This course considers the relation between deviance and societal development, concentrating on the effects of modernization, urbanization, and industrialization on definitions of deviance and on the incidence and control of various kinds of deviant behavior. Methodological problems of cross-cultural comparison are addressed, and comparative material on violent crime, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, alcoholism and other types of deviance is drawn from Western Europe, the Soviet Union, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. This course focuses on the multifaceted associations among alcohol, drug use, and crime in America. It distinguishes legal and policy issues from competing paradigms and contrasts criminal justice and public health models. The course highlights social service systems in relation to current practices and institutionalized definitions of health and illness, crime and criminals.
Emphasis is given to techniques of survey, field, and experimental research.
Students are introduced to the use of computers. Course exercises use descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation and regression analysis, as well as related inferential statistics, to analyze social data. Procedures for computer based statistical analyses are introduced and used throughout the course. No prior experience with computers or knowledge of statistical formulae are required. An introduction to computer applications in social agencies and in social research.