The Logic of Social Control

The Logic of Social Control illustrates the nature of scientific progress. Indeed, it is a model of modern sociology. The investigation of social control--how people define and respond to deviant behavior--began at the turn of the century and has continued at a steadily increasing rate across a broadening range of phenomena. First came inquiries into the evolution of law--one of the most sophisticated and controversial forms of social control in modern societies. Anthropologists discovered, however, that simpler societies often handle deviant behavior entirely without governmental institutions such as the police, courts, or legislatures, in fact, without government or law at all ... [This book] is the most comprehensive study of social control ever written. It offers at once a statement of the paradigm guiding the field, an inventory of existing knowledge, and a wide array of new formulations extending the theoretical frontiers of the field. -- taken from Foreword.