Crime Deviance And Social Control In The 21st Century

Crime, Deviance, and Social Control in the 21st Century seeks to go beyond traditional criminology texts and handle the subject through a perspective focusing on power interest and social justice. Timely and accessibly written, the text provides a comprehensive overview of social and criminological theory, as well as recent trends in theorizing power and deviance. It also delves into the significant implications the committal and control of crime have for human rights. This text aims to answer the questions: “Who has the power to decide which acts are deviant?”; “Whose interests are being served by a given law?”; and “Which social groups are being disadvantaged when society has been constructed along such legally demarcated lines?” The contributors dissect the criminalization of dissent, the changing nature of what constitutes deviance, internet hate, self-harming, transgender identities, the growing rise of transnational criminal enterprises, internet fraud, and the increased public attention on police practices. With a Canadian focus placed in a global context, the text challenges readers to consider crime and deviance as socially structured phenomena, while recognizing that crime is a worldwide issue. Crime, Deviance, and Social Control in the 21st Century is a critical resource for undergraduate students in criminology, police services, and sociology. FEATURES: - Offers an accessible and comprehensive introductory overview of criminology theory - Employs a social justice approach to the fundamentals of criminology, deviance, law, and social control - Includes bolded key terms, a glossary, real-world case studies, and questions for critical thinking

An examination of different sociological perspectives on crime and deviant behaviour in our society. It covers: patterns of criminal behaviour; explaining crime - structural and interpretative approaches; sociological perspectives on suicide; and defining, measuring and controlling crime. The text should be suitable for both linear and modular courses, and has an exam focus. It features sample questions and skills advice.

Contains contributions on the theme of popular culture, crime, and social control. This title includes chapters that tease out various criminologically relevant issues, pertaining to crime/deviance and/or the control thereof, on the basis of an analysis of various aspects and manifestations of popular culture, including music, and movies.

This reader provides a selection of articles that examine core issues in the field of deviant behaviour and social control. Included are empirical studies based on each theory discussed.

The Handbook of Deviant Behavior presents a comprehensive, integrative, and accessible overview of the contemporary body of knowledge in the field of social deviance in the twenty-first century. This book addresses the full range of scholarly concerns within this area – including theoretical, methodological, and substantive issues – in over seventy original entries, written by an international mix of recognized scholars. Each of these essays provides insight not only into the historical and sociological evolution of the topic addressed, but also highlights associated notable thinkers, research findings, and key published works for further reference. As a whole, this Handbook undertakes an in depth evaluation of the contemporary state of knowledge within the area of social deviance, and beyond this considers future directions and concerns that will engage scholars in the decades ahead. The inclusion of comparative and cross-cultural examples and discussions, relevant case studies and other pedagogical features make this book an invaluable learning tool for undergraduate and post graduate students in disciplines such as criminology, mental health studies, criminal theory, and contemporary sociology.

A major contribution to the field of crime/deviance, this volume by noted criminologist Charles R. Tittle puts forth an integrated theory of deviance—control balance. Its central premise is that the total amount of control people are subjected to, relative to the control they can exercise, will affect the probability and type of their deviant behavior. In developing control balance, Tittle critically reviews other general theories such as anomie, Marxian conflict, social control, differential association/social learning, labelling, and routine activities and offers reasons why those theories are insufficient. Using real-world examples to illustrate his argument, he contends that deviance results from the convergence of four variables, each of which represents an interactive nexus of several inputs, including most prominently a control imbalance. The variables are predisposition, motivation, opportunity, and constraint. Control balance theory also explains six basic types of deviance, ranging from predation, defiance, and submissiveness on one end of a control ratio continuum to exploitation, plunder, and decadence on the other. Tittle conceives of control balance as a continuation, or temporary culmination, of the collective efforts of crime/deviance scholars who have gone before, presenting it as a vehicle for trying to achieve a fully adequate general theory of deviance.