Deviant Behavior provides a comprehensive study of the behavior, beliefs, conditions, and reactions to deviance, giving students a better understanding of this phenomenon. Deviance is discussed from the sociological perspectives of positivism and constructionism. Readers will grasp the reason behind deviant behavior through the positivist perspective and why certain actions, beliefs, and physical characteristics are condemned through the constructionist perspective.

New to this edition:

Two chapters on crime make clearer distinctions between criminalization of behavior, vs. criminal behavior itself

More discussion of the relativity of deviance, including how murder is socially and legally constructed

Expands the notion that conspiracy theory is a form of cognitive deviance

New discussion furthers the difference between labeling theory and constructionism

New Section on environmental pollution with reference to green criminology

New section added on Deviance and Harm

Newsworthy new features include:

A Formerly Homeless Man Speaks Out

Victimization and Abuse

Mass Incarceration

Stop and Frisk

Missing Black Men? (with implications for families and demography)

Arrest-Incarceration Gap

Disparities in Sentencing

The End of the Crime Decline?

The Brother of a Murder Victim Speaks Out

A Tattoo Collector Gets Inked

Faculty-Student Sex

Reflections on Studying BDSM