Locating Deviance

Reviews / Votes

'Gerald Mars is an analyst in the classical traditions of social anthropology and urban ethnography. He is concerned to first understand and then describe, using classification schemes solidly based in the how? of crime and deviance rather than by jumping mindlessly into the knee-jerk political reflexes of the why do bad things happen?? and how shall society punish what it cannot cope with?? questions. This book is essential reading for those, including most operational managers, who want to take a mental step back and ask fundamental questions about what kind of society are we, that these unplanned outcomes occur?? and how is it that we are all implicated in organizations that co-create deviance??.' David Weir, University Campus Suffolk, UK, and ESC Rennes, France 'This volume displays and also integrates Mars' major contributions over several decades to general social theory, anthropology and criminology. Combining subtle and meticulous ethnography with historically-informed innovation in theory, these studies provide master classes in using empirical work for the most ambitious theoretical arguments. In showing how deviance is central to social organization, he elegantly turns Durkheim's aphorism about the normality of crime into a strategy of general social inquiry into institutional dynamics.' Perri 6, Queen Mary College, University of London, UK 'Gerald Mars again demonstrates how, using anthropology's concepts and sensitive participant observation, he illumines areas other disciplines find difficult to reach. Via detailed case studies he uncovers the keys to organizational criminality that should appeal to criminologists, anthropologists and managers alike. Easy to read, essentially practical, its final chapter - charting the cultural bases of deviance in the financial service industries - is a tour de force.' Tom Selwyn, SOAS, University of London, UK 'Gerald Mars has been a lifelong student of human behavior as i