The Sociology of Deviance by Colin Sumner
The first part of this extended obituary documents the formation of the field of sociology of deviance from its conception in the womb of Durkheim's social theory to its coming of age in late 1930s sociology. The second part examines the heyday of the field as a popular science and as a critique of social control in the 1960s. The final part analyzes its death at the hands of the post-1968 critics. Throughout, Colin Summer explores the theoretical matrix that held the sociology of deviance together and sets it in the context of culture, politics and social change.