Social problems and public policy: deviance and liberty - Softcover

Rainwater, Lee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0202302644 ISBN 13: 9780202302645

Publisher: Aldine Pub. Co, 1974

Synopsis

Deviance is by definition a social problem. Since deviant behavior violates the normative expectations of a given group, deviance must be regarded as a problem for that group, since all groups of people want their norms to be enforced. Many modern societies place considerable value on personal liberty, so much so that interference with personal choices to deviate from group norms can be justified only in terms of the potential damage that particular kinds of behavior might do to the legitimate interests of others.

Sociological research suggests that the social problem associated with deviance is often the behavior of individuals who violate norms cannot be justified in terms of basic values of liberty, social order, or justice. In other kinds of deviance, though, the social problem is that people or, in a more organized way, social institutions, interfere with individual liberty and self-realization.

Each selection in this volume has been chosen to cover a full range of substantive problematic issues, a range of social science perspectives that can be brought to bear on issues of all kinds, and a range of social science methodologies used in studying modern society. Deviance and Liberty is divided up into thirty-nine contributions and five main parts ranging from “Modern Perspectives on Deviance and Social Problems”; “Deviant Exchanges: Gambling, Drugs, and Sex”; “Deviant Personal Control: Illness, Violence, and Crime; Deviance, Identity, and the Life Cycle”; and “Moral Enterprise and Moral Enforcement”. It is a welcome addition to the libraries of those interested in the study of deviance or society as a whole.

About this title

About the Author

Lee Rainwater is professor emeritus of sociology at Harvard University and research director emeritus of the Luxembourg Income Study. He was an editor at Transaction, the associate editor of theJournal of Marriage and the Family, and a member of the review board of Sociological Quarterly. He has written various books and many professional journal articles, including Poor Kids in a Rich Country: America’s Children In Comparative Perspective; Income Packaging in the Welfare State: A Comparative Study of Family Income; and Social Policy and Public Policy: Inequality and Justice.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aldine Pub. Co
• Publication date: 1974
• ISBN 10: 0202302644
• ISBN 13: 9780202302645
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 437