This book gives a very intriguing and exciting look into the world of deviance, for instance what makes a murder a murder or a raper a raper. Good examples, backgrounds, and references. This book will make the endeaver to lecture this course so fun.

This is a well-organized text with plenty of focus on Sociology Theory and clear connections between theorists and history. However, it does not contain any color and has very few visual aides, so for a visual learner like myself, this text is a challenge.

I'm not a big fan of textbooks in general but this one is actually not bad. It doesn't drag out simple concepts or over explain to the point of putting you to sleep. If you're going to buy this book, I would definitely recommend you buy Readings in Deviant Behavior to go along with it. There are approximately 4 readings per chapter in the text and it really clarifies a lot of the concepts.

It seems that the negative reviews have come from individuals that find the material to be too "liberal," so I want to clarify up front that I am a liberal & have liberal viewpoints. Additionally, I am a 4.0 student (senior) with a double major in sociology & psychology. Unlike the other reviewers, my complaint is about the reliability of the content. One person did state that Thio does a poor job of updating the text for new editions. I fully agree with that. Most of the references cited are from the 1970s, 80s, & 90s. There are some updated references - but typically just piggy-backed onto old references. In places where it seems that he would learn something by reviewing a new source, there is no new reference.

I don't understand, for example, how he can justify using 70s & 80s data in the "mental disorders" section, as if the psychological field has remained static for 3 decades. On some pages, he used the term "psychoanalytic" interchangeably with "psychological." He claims that theories surrounding biological origins of mental disorder are in conflict with environmental causes of mental disorder, which any psychologist or psychiatrist today can tell you is untrue. Furthermore, he claims that biologic theories dominate the field today & that "psychoanalytic" (which he is also calling psychological) theories dominated the field in the 1950s & 60s, but are less popular today. However, he goes on to quote Freud, who has certainly long-since been discredited. Thio claims that there are 3 types of "functional" (which he essentially defines as "environmental") disorders: psychosis (schizophrenia & manic-depressive disorder), neurosis (anxiety "reaction," obsessive-compulsive "behavior," depressive "reaction," & psychophysiologic disorder), & personality disorders. He says, "This mental disorder has also been called character disorder or sociopathic (psychopathic) disorder." (p. 173) Hopefully you other psychology majors see the problems here. First of all, personality disorders are much more broad than just being a "catch-all" (as Thio implies on the same page) that is labeled as sociopathic. Personality disorders include Borderline Personality Disorder, Histrionic Personality Disorder, & Narcissistic Personality Disorder - among others. Secondly, no one in the psychological or psychiatric fields calls anything "character disorder." Third, he implies that he has covered the range of disorders, but even the "desk" version of the DSM-IV-TR is 370 pages long & details over 200 distinct disorders, which obviously means that he should clarify to potentially naïve students that his coverage is not exhaustive. Fourth, he repeatedly references the 1994 DSM-IV, neglecting to reference the 2000 DSM-IV-TR, which has obviously been updated more recently.

The problem is, Thio's tragically dated information is peppered throughout this text. In order for it to teach valid, reliable, & accurate information to eager, young students, the author will need to exert the effort to give it a dramatic overhaul.

Students that are enrolled in a Deviant Behavior class for Sociology, this is the book you need. If your professor actually uses and teaches directly from the book you better order this now.

This book is a disgrace to academia. The author has yet to master the art of forming a coherent thought or sentence. He routinely writes in the vernacular, rather than a formal researcher's form. Topics are generally discussed by listing a heading, then inserting some ramblings which are devoid of proper paragraph structure and citations. Once you get past the dire lack of high school level composition skills, you find an author bent on slanting his readers toward his own views, which, unsurprisingly, are quite socialist. Rather than begin with premises and present supporting arguments and research, he automatically assumes his own slanted view is correct. I find it hard to believe this book is published and used in classrooms, but I suppose the socialists have to make up for a lack of logical thought with print volume.

This book is chalk full of biases and fallacies - especially regarding gun ownership.

The way the book is written in general is enough to give you nightmares. I don't need to hear over and over that men rape women and all of the various ways. And I don't care to sample every version of suicide on an instance by instance case.

The composition of this book is much like a crappy website made to rant - it's a jumble of confused thought.

This book is chalk full of biases and fallacies - especially regarding gun ownership.

The way the book is written in general is enough to give you nightmares. I don't need to hear over and over that men rape women and all of the various ways. And I don't care to sample every version of suicide on an instance by instance case.

The composition of this book is much like a crappy website made to rant - it's a jumble of confused thought.

I don't actually believe in sociology and I think Mr. Thio's reasoning is mushy at many points. If you're thinking of paying full-price at your campus bookstore for the current edition, think again. The author mainly updates the pictures each year and tosses in a few new references - if you buy a coffee for the guy next to you he'll probably let you skim his new addition before the exam.

I did not care for the subject matter in this book in part because everyone is deviant by the standards of the power elite (except for the power of elite). Homocides are donw by poor minorities, homosexuals are sexually deviants, and the list continues. The book is one sided throughout even down to the last chapters regarding people that are over weight. If you enjoy arguing this is the right book, if not stay open minded when the teacher requests that you discuss it. I had to.

I had this book assigned to me to fulfill the requirements of a college level course about 20 years ago. I thought it would be about people we would tend to instantly label "socially deviant". I was wrong--the book changed my way of thinking about the way we label others, how "deviant" the acts of people in socially responsible positions can be, and the effect our tolerance of this behavior can have upon our world as a whole.

This is high praise, and well deserved. The only downside (as some may see it) is that, after digesting the book, one is forced to look at the circumstances in one's own life where a choice may be made to act against what, at some level, is known to be "best behavior". Yes, we can each be quite capable of deviant behaviors. When we stop limiting our perceptions regarding just what "deviant behavior" is, the better we understand that attending to our own ethical standards with diligence and awareness can address some of the "deviance problems" our society suffers most from--those that emerge not from any "underclass", but from the ranks of the so-called middle and upperclasses. They can be the breeding ground for some of the most pervasive and insidious problems afflicting society as a whole, and the hardest to control. The suffering brought on by "white collar" or corporate criminality/negligence is as great as acts deemed to be more obviously abnormal, and every bit as real. But many know nothing of this, because, as Thio states, who is watching the watchdogs? And those who know, often for many reasons fail to act. Thio roots out a true human dilemma, and challenges us to examine it.

This book was so memorable that I have quoted its premise frequently in business and other contexts, and here I am --searching to see if it is still available. I am glad it is.