Becoming Deviant

Description

Becoming Deviant describes a process by which people move from an affinity for certain prohibited behaviors to full-blown deviance. This process includes affiliation with circles and settings that include or sponsor offenses, followed by understanding and identification of the offenses as prohibited behavior by the transgressor. The process can be summaried as affinity, affiliation, and signification. The sequential process Mata describes allows for non-recurrent offending behavior, recidivism, and offending again. His perspective is motivated by the view that criminological theories do not explain a number of the fundamental empirical features and nuances known to be associated with delinquency. This includes the frequent termination of delinquent behavior at the onset of adulthood, the often conformist nature of delinquent behavior, and the large numbers of non-delinquents that are often found in otherwise "high-delinquency areas." In Becoming Deviant Mata reasons that most, though not all, delinquent behavior constitutes relatively uniform phenomena that is developmental in character. Individuals proceed from trivial to more serious infractions. He argues that delinquent behavior represents youths searching for adventure and is accompanied by withdrawal from conventional values and associated behavior. Mata further claims that many delinquents are not fully committed to a delinquent lifestyle, and this explains why delinquent behavior often ends with adulthood. Matas compelling and integrated theoretical explanation makes this a classic in the increasingly sophisticated criminological literature. Thomas Blombergs new introduction shows why Becoming Deviant remains of central importance to the field. David Mata is professor emeritus of sociology at University of California in Berkeley. He has served as research associate in the Center for the Study of Law and Society, review editor of The American Sociological Review, and author of several major works on the relationship of law and deviance, including Delinquency and Drift. Thomas G. Blomberg is Sheldon L. Messinger Professor of Criminology at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University. He is the author of American Penology and Punishment and Social Control.