Deviant Behavior (9th Edition) (MySearchLab Series 15% off) (ISBN 0205512585)

A sociologist that dislikes the book...:
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.

Not for a visual learner:
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.

Great text for sociology/pre-law majors.!:
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.

Great for College Students:
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.

Deviant Behavior:
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.