Early Sociological Analysis

Introduction
Early sociology scholars frequently referred to crime as an abnormality, pathology, or dysfunction thereby focusing attention to wrongdoers and rule breakers (Becker 1963, p.311; Erikson 1962, p.291). However, Kai Erikson and Émile Durkheim (Cartwright 2011, p.288) conversely argue that crime and deviance are normal and functional; that is, that deviance is a “vital form of activity which” through a process of selection “outlines the area within which social life as such takes place” (Erikson 1962, p.296). Furthermore, Erikson (1962, p.296) infers that crime and deviance are socially negotiated or constructed. This assertion is influential for likeminded scholars such as Howard Becker (1963, p.311) who further suggests that deviants …show more content…
and Phipps, H. E. (2010). False news reports, folk devils, and the role of public officials: Notes on the social construction of law and order in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Deviant Behavior, 31(1), 97-134.
Cartwright , B. (2011). Moral entrepreneurs. In B. Cartwright (Ed.), Sociological Explanations of Crime and Deviance (pp. 299-302). Boston: Person Learning Solutions.
Cartwright, B. (2011). Notes on the sociology of deviance. In B. Cartwright (Ed.), Sociological Explanations of Crime and Deviance (pp. 287-289). Boston: Person Learning Solutions.
Cartwright, B. (2011). The sociology of deviance, the labeling perspective and critical constructionism. In B. Cartwright (Ed.), Sociological Explanations of Crime and Deviance (pp. 283-286). Boston: Person Learning Solutions.
Cohen , S. (2011). Whose side are we on? The undeclared politics of moral panics theory. Crime, Culture and Media, 7(23), 237-243.
Erikson , K. T. (1962). Notes on the sociology of deviance. In B. Cartwright (Ed.), Sociological Explanations of Crime and Deviance (pp. 290-298). Boston: Person Learning Solutions.
Goode, E., & Ben-Yehuda, N. (1994). Moral panics: Culture, politics, and social construction. Annual Review of Sociology, 20(1),