PREFACE:
PREFACE
I have made a substantial number of revisions in this edition of Deviant Behavior. Aside from the usual updating, I have added several entirely new chapters, compressed others, expanded still others, and deleted or added many sections. I agree with Adler and Adler (2000, p. 8): The subject matter of the field is the "ABCs" of deviance. What the concept of the sociology of deviance encompasses is Attitudes (or beliefs), Behavior, and Characteristics (or traits), including those that are strictly physical. I disagree with Polsky (1998, pp. 202-203), who argues that the study of behavior or conditions that are "not an individual's fault" is off-limits, that is, that we are confined to studying behavior that is regarded as immoral and more or less freely chosen, for which the person designated as deviant can be "blamed" for engaging in. As I show, the social consequences of possessing involuntarily acquired characteristics are often very similar to those that flow from "immoral" behavior.
Hence, in this edition, I have added a chapter on physical deviance, or what Goffman (1963, p. 4) referred to as "abominations of the body—the various physical deformities," which includes violations of aesthetic norms and disability. In that chapter, I forcefully argue that we sociologists should regard non-normative physical characteristics as a form of deviance.
In addition (again, taking my cue from the Adlers' "ABCs of deviance"), I have added a chapter on deviant belief systems, including religious, political, and paranormal beliefs. While the line between beliefs and behavior is notalwaysconceptually or theoretically easy to draw, we sociologists should reserve a place for deviant beliefs in our thinking. It is possible that, in the history of the world, more people have been punished for unconventional beliefs than for deviant behavior.
I have also compressed what were the three chapters on crime—violent crime, property crime, and white-collar crime—in the previous edition into one chapter. I have taken seriously the argument of several recent critics (Bader, Becker, and Desmond, 1996; Kunkel, 1999) that courses on deviance spend too much time discussing issues and especially topics that are covered in a criminology course. Insofar as it is possible, I have avoided engaging in such repetition and have kept my discussion of criminal behavior to a minimum. Of course, where concepts and theories overlap, there is no avoiding duplication.
During the months prior to completing this revision, I sent out a request for a copy of a course syllabus on deviance to all the persons listed in the American Sociological Association's Biographical Directory of Members for 1997-1998 who designated themselves as having a specialty in Section 4, Crime, Law, and Deviance. Slightly over 1,000 persons were so listed, although not all, and very possibly a minority, regard deviance as their specialty and/or teach or have taught courses on deviance. I also sent the same request to all authors and editors of books designed to be used in deviance courses and to all instructors of deviance in the sociology department at Stony Brook. I did not expect a substantial response rate; in fact, I received only 100 usable syllabi. (Some responded, but did not enclose—or even have in their possession—syllabi.) I was surprised, however, that most editors and textbook authors did not reply to my request. In any case, clearly, the 100 replies do not represent or reflect the approach or content of all deviance courses taught in American universities. Still, in this edition I tally some of the results of this little inquiry. It gave me a clearer idea of the topics deviance instructors discuss.
I have added a discussion of the use of tobacco as a form of deviance in Chapter 8 on legal drugs. I have simplified the chapter on heterosexual deviances by regarding "sex work" as a conceptual category that encompasses prostitution, pornography, and other sex-for-pay enterprises. I have retained but simplified my distinction between constructionism and positivism, incorporating into Chapter 3 some concepts that are common to each approach. I have retained deviance accounts as a vivid pedagogical device for illuminating key ideas in each chapter. Most of the personal accounts that appear in this edition are new, and at least one account appears at the end of each chapter.
Each time I encounter or simply think about the argument that the sociological study of deviance is "dead," that it was necessary to write "an obituary" for the field (Sumner, 1994), 1 marvel at the sheer stultifying stupidity of the argument. No more alive field has ever existed, in sociology or any other discipline.
I would like to thank all the contributors of the personal accounts that appear at the end of each chapter; the instructors of deviance courses who sent me one or more copies of their syllabi; Gary Marker for helping me with the section on the Old Believers; Mary Ann Chaisson for commenting on the section on AIDS; Nachman Ben-Yehuda for his all-around help; and Gerald Davison, John Neale, Alphonse Sallett, Marvin Scott, William J. Goode, Barbara Weinstein, and Ron Weitzer. I would also like to thank the following reviewers: William R. Faulkner, Western Illinois University; Vickie Jensen, California State University-Northridge; Nick Larsen, Chapman University; and Victor N. Shaw, California State University-Northridge. Most of all, I'd like to thank the researchers who investigate and the authors who write about this lively and fascinating topic of deviance. Take my word for it: This field is not going to expire any time soon.
Erich Goode
