Summary

This is a completely revised and updated edition of Understanding Deviance, a popular and accessible introduction to the principal theories of crime and social deviance in the European and North American context. This third edition has taken into account all of the most significant developments since 1995 whilst retaining the clarity and economy of presentation of earlier editions. A new final chapter presents a spirited defence of the deviance perspective against a number of criticisms. It is argued that theories of deviance have an anticipatory as well as an explanatory role to play. From the reviews of the second edition: `It faced, and still faces, little competition, as an intelligent, wide-ranging and thoroughly useful insight into the development of criminological thought.' British Journal of Criminology