Deviance Across Cultures


Book Description

Are "deviant" and "criminal" behaviors inherently wrong or evil? Taking an innovative cross-cultural approach, Deviance Across Cultures spans the globe to give instructors an invaluable new resource for investigating the social construction of deviance. From studies on prostitution and drugs to examinations of religion and corporate deviance, this anthology--a collection of both classic and contemporary articles--responds to the growing need for interdisciplinary and global learning in deviance studies. To create a strong framework for inquiry, editor Robert Heiner has written a comprehensive introduction to each article that emphasizes the topic's relationship to theory and to ongoing trends affecting the United States and other countries. Throughout, careful attention to distant cultures will encourage students to understand deviance from an academic--and less emotional--perspective. Ideal as either a main text or a supplementary reader, this collection builds on classic deviance theory and basic sociological concepts to introduce students to this complex subject. With its rich global perspective, Deviance Across Cultures will challenge and expand students' assumptions about social deviance--both at home and abroad.




Deviance Across Cultures


Book Description

Are "deviant" and "criminal" behaviors inherently wrong or evil? Taking an innovative cross-cultural approach, Deviance Across Cultures: Constructions of Difference, Second Edition, spans the globe to give instructors and students an invaluable--and affordable--resource for investigating the social construction of deviance. From studies on sex and drugs to examinations of religious and corporate deviance, this anthology responds to the growing need for global learning in deviance studies.




Crime, Deviance and Popular Culture


Book Description

This book explores the links between crime, deviance and popular culture in our highly-mediatised era, offering an insight into the cultural processes through which particular practices acquire a criminal or deviant status, and come to be seen as social problems. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, the edited collection brings together international scholars across various areas of specialisation to provide an up-to-date analysis of some important and topical issues in 21st-century popular culture. The chapters look at different aspects of popular culture, including fictional detective narratives and the true crime genre, popular media constructions of sexual deviance and Islamophobia, sports, graffiti and outlaw biker subcultures. The authors examine a wide range of relevant case studies through a number of crime and deviance-related theories. Crime, Deviance and Popular Culture will be of importance to scholars and students across several disciplines, including criminology, sociology of deviance, social anthropology, media studies, cultural studies, television studies and linguistics.




Encyclopedia of Social Deviance


Book Description

Social deviance does not involve just criminal behavior—it’s any behavior that violates a cultural norm, and that can involve something as minor as consistently and deliberately wearing lively mismatched socks. Moreover, whether a crime, a sin, or simply unique taste, what’s considered deviant at one time and place can change, as when extensive tattooing and "body art" evolved from a sideshow carnival spectacle to a nearly universal rite of passage within U.S. culture. Drawing contributions from across the social and behavioral sciences, including sociology, anthropology, criminology, politics, psychology, and religion, the Encyclopedia of Social Deviance introduces students to this lively field of rule-making and rebellion that strikes at the core of what it means to be an individual living in a social world. Key Features: More than 300 articles are organized A-to-Z in two volumes available in both electronic and print formats. Articles, authored by key figures in the field, conclude with cross-reference links and further readings. Although organized A-to-Z, a thematic “Reader’s Guide” groups related articles by broad areas (e.g., Concepts; Theories; Research Methodologies; Individual Deviance; Organizational Deviance; etc.) as one handy search feature on the e-Reference platform, which also includes a comprehensive index of search terms.




Thinking About Deviance


Book Description

Thinking About Deviance, second edition, explores how people participate in and produce the phenomena of deviance. Through nineteen brief and provocative chapters, such as 'Is Deviance Harmful or Helpful?', 'Once Deviant, Always Deviant?', and 'Do You Get the Time Because You Did the Crime?', the book examines how everyone is involved in the many facets of deviance. While a small portion of deviance may seem to be exotic, done by people on the fringe of society, deviance is an integral part of society and of conventional people's lives. By using everyday instances of deviance familiar to college students (such as shoplifting, academic cheating, underage drinking, and smoking) and examples from the media, the book engages readers and enables them to develop more general thinking about deviance. Through an interactive style in which the readers are asked questions and presented with hypothetical and actual situations for their thoughts, the book creates a 'conversation' with the readers. It encourages readers to think about and question deviance, including their participation in and their assumptions about it, in ways they are unlikely to have done before.




Pop Culture Panics


Book Description

Moral panics reveal much about a society’s social structure and the sociology embedded in everyday life. This short text examines extreme reactions to American popular culture over the past century, including crusades against comic books, music, and pinball machines, to help convey the "sociological imagination" to undergraduates. Sternheimer creates a critical lens through which to view current and future attempts of modern-day moral crusaders, who try to convince us that simple solutions—like regulating popular culture—are the answer to complex social problems. Pop Culture Panics is ideal for use in undergraduate social problems, social deviance, and popular culture courses.




The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology


Book Description

The field of linguistic anthropology looks at human uniqueness and diversity through the lens of language, our species' special combination of art and instinct. Human language both shapes, and is shaped by, our minds, societies, and cultural worlds. This state-of-the-field survey covers a wide range of topics, approaches and theories, such as the nature and function of language systems, the relationship between language and social interaction, and the place of language in the social life of communities. Promoting a broad vision of the subject, spanning a range of disciplines from linguistics to biology, from psychology to sociology and philosophy, this authoritative handbook is an essential reference guide for students and researchers working on language and culture across the social sciences.




The Hoarders


Book Description

The verb “declutter” has not yet made it into the Oxford English Dictionary, but its ever-increasing usage suggests that it’s only a matter of time. Articles containing tips and tricks on how to get organized cover magazine pages and pop up in TV programs and commercials, while clutter professionals and specialists referred to as “clutterologists” are just a phone call away. Everywhere the sentiment is the same: clutter is bad. In The Hoarders, Scott Herring provides an in-depth examination of how modern hoarders came into being, from their onset in the late 1930s to the present day. He finds that both the idea of organization and the role of the clutterologist are deeply ingrained in our culture, and that there is a fine line between clutter and deviance in America. Herring introduces us to Jill, whose countertops are piled high with decaying food and whose cabinets are overrun with purchases, while the fly strips hanging from her ceiling are arguably more fly than strip. When Jill spots a decomposing pumpkin about to be jettisoned, she stops, seeing in the rotting, squalid vegetable a special treasure. “I’ve never seen one quite like this before,” she says, and looks to see if any seeds remain. It is from moments like these that Herring builds his questions: What counts as an acceptable material life—and who decides? Is hoarding some sort of inherent deviation of the mind, or a recent historical phenomenon grounded in changing material cultures? Herring opts for the latter, explaining that hoarders attract attention not because they are mentally ill but because they challenge normal modes of material relations. Piled high with detailed and, at times, disturbing descriptions of uncleanliness, The Hoarders delivers a sweeping and fascinating history of hoarding that will cause us all to reconsider how we view these accumulators of clutter.




Encyclopedia of Social Deviance


Book Description

Social deviance—any behavior that violates a cultural norm—can involve something as major as crime or as minor as consistently and deliberately wearing lively mismatched socks. Whether a crime, a sin, or simply unique taste, what’s considered deviant at one time and place can change, as when extensive tattooing and "body art" evolved from a sideshow carnival spectacle to a nearly universal rite of passage within U.S. culture. Drawing contributions from across the social and behavioral sciences, including sociology, anthropology, criminology, politics, psychology, and religion, the Encyclopedia of Social Deviance introduces readers to the lively field of rule-making and rebellion that strikes at the core of what it means to be an individual living in a social world. Key Features: More than 300 articles authored by key figures in the field are organized A-to-Z in two volumes. Each article concludes with cross-references to related entries and further readings. A thematic "Reader’s Guide" groups related articles by broad areas (e.g., Concepts; Theories; Research Methodologies; Individual Deviance; Organizational Deviance; etc.) as one handy search feature on the e-Reference platform, which also includes a comprehensive index of search terms. Available in both electronic and print formats, this two-volume, A-to-Z encyclopedia set is a must-have resource for students and researchers who seek to understand social deviance. Key Themes: Crime, Property Crime, Sex Crime, Violent Crime, White-Collar/Corporate Defining Deviance Deviance in Social Institutions Deviant Subcultures Discrimination Drug Use and Abuse Marriage and Family Deviance Measuring Deviance Mental and Physical Disabilities Methodology for Studying Deviance Self-Destructive Deviance Sexual Deviance Social and Political Protest Social Control and Deviance Studying Deviant Subcultures Technology and Deviance Theories of Deviance, Macro Theories of Deviance, Micro Transitional Deviance




Conceptualizing Deviance


Book Description

Deviance is both socially defined and influenced. While it is widely accepted that deviance is a social construction, this research revisits the conceptualization of deviance and advances the methods used to study deviance and social construction. This book presents and compares three methods for conceptualizing deviance within and across cultures. Comparing the United States to South Korea, perceptions of deviance are presented as how individuals define deviance and what acts are cited as deviant. Next, attribute data are used to assess differences in of conceptualizations of deviance by demographic factors. Finally, social network analysis is used to understand the social influences at work in how one perceives deviance. This book is unique in its reconceptualization of deviance and the application of social network analysis as a new tool for studying social influence and perceptions.