Deviance: Anthropological Perspectives / Edition 1

by Morris Freilich, Douglas Raybeck, Joel Savishinsky

Overview

In this volume composed of a number of cross-cultural case studies in deviance, the authors show how an anthropological comparative study can shed new light on the subject. Anthropologists have tended to avoid studying deviance as a phenomena in and of itself, concentrating instead on particular sorts of deviance such as sorcery, alcoholism, and suicide. Anthropology's total immersion in the culture being studied is well suited to a fuller understanding of deviance. An anthropology of deviance is likely to create new models that challenge many of the sociological assumptions currently used to interpret and understand deviance.

The results of fieldwork in the Arctic, the West Indies, India, Europe, Africa, and the Far East are presented in individual ethnographic essays, and the data is formulated into three new theoretical models that address the differences between smart and proper behavior, the distinction between soft and hard deviance, and the social and political uses of staged deviance. These innovative models provide a context in which the data collected cross-culturally make sense in general and make deviance more understandable. Anthropology lends a greater objectivity to the study of deviance through a great concern with the validity of data, a focus on small-scale systems and a meticulous scrutiny and acknowledgment of the models that will be used to interpret the data. This unique book improves not only our understanding of deviant behavior, but of sociocultural order as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780897892049
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/19/1991
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.55(d)
Lexile:	1350L (what's this?)

About the Author

MORRIS FREILICH is Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University. He brings to this study thirty years of research and teaching experience in anthropology and deviance related topics. He edited The Relevance of Culture (Bergin & Garvey, 1989).

DOUGLAS RAYBECK is Professor of Anthropology at Hamilton College. He has contributed to a wide range of jourbanals including Ethos, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, and The Jourbanal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.

JOEL SAVISHINSKY is Professor of Anthropology at Ithaca College. He has conducted numerous case studies of human adaptation to extreme environments throughout the world, and is the author of The Trail of the Hare and numerous articles in anthropology, ecology, and psychology jourbanals.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Anthropology of Deviance
Models for Cross-Cultural Research
Smart Rules and Proper Rules: A Jourbaney Through Deviance by Morris Freilich
Hard versus Soft Deviance: Anthropology and Labeling Theory by Douglas Raybeck
Free Shows and Cheap Thrills: Staged Deviance in the Arctic and the Bahamas by Joel S. Savishinsky
Ethnographic Essays
Swaziland: Witchcraft and Deviance by Laurel Rose
Female Violence Against Related Children: Child Abuse as a Modern Form of Deviance in Kenya by Philip L. Kilbride
The "Voice" of the Despicable: Deviance, Speaking and Power in Yemeni Tribal Society by Steven C. Caton
Deviant Careers: The Hijra of India by Serena Nanda
Taiwan: Gangsters or Good Guys? by Thomas Shaw
Faeroe Islands: Clowning, Drama, and Distortion by Dennis Gaffin
Coda
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Anthropologists usually focus on particular sorts of deviance such as alcoholism, sorcery, or suicide, but these cross-cultural studies shed light on the phenomena in and of itself. The results of fieldwork in the Arctic, the West Indies, India, Europe, Africa, and the Far East are presented in ethnographic essays, and the data is formulated into three new theoretical models that address the differences between "smart" and "proper" behavior, the distinction between "soft" and "hard" deviance, and the social and political uses of "staged deviance". Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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