Description: What is a deviant? What is deviant behavior? How should the deviant be treated? Why is the same act sometimes praised and sometimes condemned? Author John Curra answers these questions and more as he explores the meanings of social deviance and public reaction to it. Readers will see that what qualifies as deviance varies from place to place, time to time, and situation to situation. Through humorous, sad, and thought-provoking examples about the blue people of Kentucky, a woman who believes she is a vampire, autoerotic asphyxiators, and others, Curra illustrates that deviance cannot be explained in terms of absolutes, and neither can it be understood apart from its social setting. This book approaches sex, violence, theft, drugs, and mental disorders in such a way that definitive or objective judgments become impossible.

The Relativity of Deviance will appeal to anyone who is fascinated by the great diversity in human experience and the even greater diversity in social representations of it. This clear, cogent work is an excellent supplement for sociology, anthropology, psychology, or criminology courses or can stand alone as an alternative to traditional textbooks about deviance.

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