Constructions of Deviance

Book excerpt: This new anthology of readings in deviance provides the missing link between classroom presentation and the theoretical sociology presented in textbooks. Presented within an interactionist/social constructionist framework, the book's 39 readings represent a variety of richly descriptive, qualitative studies of deviant subcultures, deviant behavior, and the management of deviant identities. Using the subjects' own voices, these ethnographic studies provide vivid images, and, in conjunction with the six part introductions, help the student see the connection between the characteristics of individual experience and the nature of social institutions and social power.