Creating Deviance An Interactionist Approach [Paperback]

[A] stunning accomplishment. Bold, innovative; [Dotter] defines a new trajectory for interactionist theory and research . . . well-crafted, clearly written, quite accessible for teaching and instruction purposes.The book is well organized, and moves through the traditional litany of pragmatism, symbolic interactionism and deviance quite smoothly. . . . This makes it a well-informed text with unusual theoretical strengths.Dotter's book is a novel approach to this subject. There are now numerous books on postmodernism, symbolic interactionism, and deviance (most likely in the thousands), but I am not aware of any book that specifically describes the construction of deviance by tracing the symbolic interactionist roots of postmodern treatments. Since the treatment of the postmodern scenario belongs to Dotter, and this is the central analytical concept of the text, this book offers a contribution to our way of thinking about deviance.Creating Deviance is a basic text introducing deviance from an interactionist perspective, placing the study of deviant behavior within the broader terrain of cultural meaning. By examining the persistence of gender inequality, the formation of youth subcultures, and other issues Dotter provides a valuable resource for the study of deviance and crime and for introductory courses in sociology on deviance and social control.Creating Deviance is a basic text introductory text for deviance studies. Dotter identifies the convergences between social deviance, the interactionist tradition, and the construction of cultural meaning. He provides an in-depth analysis of the significant theoretical contribution of interactionism to the study of deviant behavior and crime, examining the works of George Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer, Howard S. Becker, Edwin Shur, and Norman Denzin, among others. Dotter applies this framework to a number of specific scenarios, such as the persistence of gender inequality, the formation of youth subcultures, the contemporarl£6