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The Deviant Mystique Involvements, Realities, and Regulation

By Robert Prus and Scott Grills

ISBN: 0-275-97822-2

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-97822-8

DOI:

328 pages

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 2/28/2003

List Price: $86.95 (UK Sterling Price: £49.95)

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Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Ebook

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

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Reviews:

This book provides a nice research agenda for readers interested in conducting a symbolic interactionist study of deviance, without succuming to the deviant mystique.
—Contemporary Sociology .

Endorsement From D. Angus Vail
Willamette University: Prus and Grills have assembled a sophisticated, subtle, and exhaustive research agenda for the study of deviance. This volume combines comprehensive analysis of existing theoretical perspectives with well-informed and ethnographically sensitive suggestions for an interactionist approach not only to the study of aberrant behavior but also to group life more generally.

Description: Adopting a symbolic interactionist perspective and building extensively on the ethnographic research tradition, this book analyzes the mystique that often accompanies deviance by examining deviance as an ongoing feature of community life. Because deviance is approached in nonprescriptive ways, as a product of community interchange, the emphasis here is on the ways in which deviance is defined, engaged, and regulated. It is examined as the product of human association, as something that is generated by people as they interact with one another, assume viewpoints and initiatives, and try to influence and resist one another within the context of community life. Prus and Grills do not attempt to address various deviant behaviors; instead, they provide readers with a glimpse into how deviance is formulated, practiced, viewed, and treated. Who defines deviance? Why? What are the effects of deviance on others? How do subcultures form? These and other questions are answered in this unique approach to the study of deviance. Providing a conceptually coherent framework for approaching the study of deviance as an ongoing feature of the human community, the authors pay special attention to the many theaters of operation in which people come together and engage one another with respect to morality and deviance. Recognizing that audience definitions of deviance are pivotal to community notions of reality and actual interaction, consideration is given to the interrelated processes of defining deviance, identifying deviants, regulating deviance informally and formally, and experiencing treatment and disinvolvement. This thoughtful consideration serves to shed new light on the mystique that has been created around ideas about deviance.

Table of Contents:

Preface
The Conceptual Frame
Encountering the Deviant Mystique: Fascination, Indignation, and the Dramatization of Evil
Intersubjective Accomplishment: Human Knowing and Acting
Theaters of Operation: Deviance as Community Enterprise
Designating Deviance
Defining Deviance: Perspectives and Practices
Labeling Deviants: Disrespectable Persons
Experiencing Deviance
Becoming Involved: Subcultural Mosaics and Careers of Participation
Engaging Subcultures: Interactive Life-Worlds
Subcultural Ventures: Forming and Coordinating Associations
Solitary Deviance: Alone with Others
Regulating Deviance
Encountering Trouble: Handling Deviance Informally
Organizational Agendas: Maintaining Control Agencies
Assuming Office: Control Agents at Work
Experiencing Disinvolvement: The Problematics of Disengagement
In Perspective
Studying Deviance: Ethnographic Examinations of Community Life

LC Card Number: 2002030333

LCC Class: HM811

Dewey Class: 302


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