Understanding Deviance, Crime, Social Control, and Mass Media: The Construction of Social Order

In Understanding Deviance, Crime, Social Control, and Mass Media: The Construction of Social Order Sebahattin Ziyanak examines parental responsibility for their children’s development. Contributors to the volume summarize the functionalist perspective of deviance, the function of crimes, and how these perspectives have influenced the development of Emile Durkheim’s work like anomie and then turn their attention to fear of crime in regard to social order. An in-depth examination of how the Tennessean newspaper The City Paper and its readers’ comments frame the coverage of the Kurdish Pride Gang. Contributions to the volume also provide insight into pluralism and politicized religion. Ziyanak assess and compares the theories of differential association, low self-control, and Black’s theory of social control for explaining deviance. Focus on fear and risk perceptions of terrorism are touched upon as well the account of communication media technology and how it influences culture, control, as well as deviance. Contributors also address how the development of technology has affected the nature of deviance and social control and what is the impact of media use among the young children. Lastly examined is how the sociological imagination of the individuals living in southeastern Turkey is constructed through the movie, The Bliss.

Sebahattin Ziyanak is associate professor in sociology at The University of Texas Permian Basin.