Skip to main content

Part of the book series: Critical Criminological Perspectives ((CCRP))

Abstract

Debating the death of deviance is not especially useful. The concept’s defenders argue that deviance can’t be dead. After all, undergraduates continue to fill classrooms for courses in deviance, textbooks for those courses continue to sell and journalists use the term. Like status symbol or charisma, deviance is a sociological concept that has found its way into the popular vocabulary. Therefore, the argument goes, deviance can’t be dead.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Adler, P. A. (1985) Wheeling and Dealing: Ethnography of an Upper-Level Drug Dealing and Smuggling Community (New York: Columbia University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. S. (1963) Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (New York: Free Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. S. (ed.) (1964) The Other Side: Perspectives on Deviance (New York: Free Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. S. (1967) “Whose Side Are We On?”, Social Problems, 14, 239–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Best, J. (1999) Random Violence: How We Talk about New Crimes and New Victims (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. S. (2003) “Killing the Messenger: The Social Problems of Sociology”, Social Problems, 50, 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. S. (2004) Deviance: Career of a Concept (Belmont, CA: Wadworth).

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. S. (2006a) Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall for Fads (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. S. (2006b) “Whatever Happened to Social Pathology? Conceptual Fashions and the Sociology of Deviance”, Sociological Spectrum, 26, 533–546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. S. (2013) Social Problems, 2nd edn. (New York: W. W. Norton).

    Google Scholar 

  • Best, J. and D. Schweingruber (2003) “First Words: Do Sociologists Actually Use the Terms in Introductory Textbooks’ Glossaries?”, American Sociologist, 34 (Fall), 97–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blumer, H. (1969) “Fashion: From Class Differentiation to Collective Selection”, Sociological Quarterly, 10, 275–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, P. (2007) The Medicalization of Society: On the Transformation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, P. and J. W. Schneider (1980) Deviance and Medicalization (St. Louis: Mosby).

    Google Scholar 

  • Erikson, K. T. (1966) Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance (New York: John Wiley & Sons).

    Google Scholar 

  • Galbraith, J. K. (1990) A Short History of Financial Euphoria (New York: Penguin).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1961) Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (Garden City, NY: Anchor).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1963) Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottfredson, M. R. and T. Hirschi (1990) A General Theory of Crime (Stanford, CA: Standford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gove, W. R. (ed.) (1975) The Labelling of Deviance: Evaluating a Perspective (New York: John Wiley & Sons).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gusfield, J. R. (1963) Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement (Urban: University of Illinois Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gusfield, J. R. (1981) The Culture of Public Problems: Drinking-Driving and the Symbolic Order (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, J. (1988) Seductions of Crime: Moral and Sensual Attractions in Doing Evil (New York: Basic Books).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemert, E. M. (1951) Social Pathology: A Systematic Approach to the Theory of Sociopathic Behavior (New York: McGraw-Hill).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemert, E. M. (1967) Human Deviance, Social Problems, and Social Control (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lofland, J. (1969) Deviance and Identity (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).

    Google Scholar 

  • Matza, D. (1969) Becoming Deviant (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. and J. A. Holstein (eds.) (1997) Social Problems in Everyday Life: Studies of Social Problems Work (Greenwich, CT: JAI).

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, T. (1948) “The Position of Sociological Theory”, American Sociological Review, 13, 156–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfohl, S. J. (1977) “The ‘Discovery’ of Child Abuse”, Social Problems, 24, 310–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, V. McNickle (1977) “Rape as a Social Problem”, Social Problems, 25, 75–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheff, T. J. (1966) Being Mentally Ill: A Sociological Theory (Chicago: Aldine).

    Google Scholar 

  • Schur, E. M. (1956) Crimes without Victims: Deviant Behavior and Public Policy (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).

    Google Scholar 

  • Spector, M. and J. I. Kitsuse (1977) Constructing Social Problems (Menlo Park, CA: Cummings).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyson, N. deGrasse (2009) The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet (New York: W. W. Norton).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Copyright information

© 2014 Joel Best

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Best, J. (2014). The Deviance Bubble. In: The Death and Resurrection of Deviance. Critical Criminological Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137303806_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics