Deviance and Social Control: A Sociological Perspective serves as a guide to students delving into the fascinating world of deviance for the first time, offering clear overviews of issues and perspectives in the field as well as introductions to classic and current academic literature.

The unique text/reader format provides the best of both worlds, offering both substantial original chapters that give an overview of the field and the theories, as well as carefully selected articles on deviance and social control taken directly from leading academic journals and books.

This groundbreaking text is framed within and written entirely from a sociological perspective, explaining the development of major sociological theoretical perspectives and detailing how those theories have been used to think about the causes of and reactions to deviant behavior. In contrast to other resources on deviance this book is primarily organized around theories and perspectives of deviance rather than types of deviant behavior or a singular approach to understanding deviance. While taking a broad sociological perspective, the authors move beyond theory by including additional sections focused on researching deviance, social control of deviance, and deviant careers.