Deviance and Social Justice

Abstract

This chapter is an attempt to elucidate how research and teaching on the sociology of deviance can contribute to a more just society. Research in deviance and criminology has the capacity to both promote and hinder social justice, but I write here to support the former from a sociological perspective. While mainstream academic criminology tends to have a narrow focus and rigidly holds to an atheoretical empirical approach increasingly removed from its sociological roots, studying and teaching deviance within a social justice framework and a sociological perspective can help maintain the vitality of the sociology of deviance. The sociology of deviance has generated a large number of ideas, concepts and theories that are used in other concentration areas within sociology, such as medical sociology, race, ethnicity, gender studies, criminology, social problems and collective behavior, among others (Goode, 2004), and it is important to make use of these ideas to inform research and teaching that can advance the discipline and promote social justice.