Deviance: The Interactionist Perspective (9th Edition)

This highly successful reader presents the interactionist approach to the study of deviance, examining deviance as a phenomenon that is constituted through social interpretations and the reactions of persons caught up in this social process.

This book focuses on issues such as how individuals interpret and label people, how people relate to one another based on these interpretations, and the consequences of these social processes. This perspective helps students understand both social process in general and the sociology of deviance in particular.

This highly successful reader presents the interactionist approach to the study of deviance, examining deviance as a social phenomenon that consists of a set of interpretations and social reactions. The first half of the book (Parts I and II) deals with how people define some persons as deviant and act on the basis of these designations. The second half of the book (Parts III and IV) discusses the deviants themselves: how they respond to being typed by others, how they type themselves, and how deviant groups are formed.

Readings new to the ninth edition include:

• Five new readings in Part I, “The Social Deviant,” include the work of Heckert and Best, Cahill and Eggleston, Logan, Dellinger and Williams, and Kenney.
• Three new readings in Part III, “Relations among Deviants,” include Miller, Anderson and Dabney, and Hollinger.
• Two new selections in Chapter 12, “Deviant Identity” highlight the contributions of McLorgand Taub, and Irwin.