Criminalization and deviantization as properties of the social order

It is argued that deviance should be analyzed as a relative phenomenon in different and changing cultures, vis-a-vis change and stability in the boundaries of diverse symbolic-moral universes. Deviantization and criminalization are interpreted as the outcomes of negotiations about the nature of morality and legitimization to use, and the use of, power. The legitimization of power is conceptualized in terms of a moral order that in turn defines the boundaries of symbolic-moral universes. Problematic behavioural acts, which take place at the realm of the seams, where boundaries of different symbolic-moral universes meet and touch, or which are directed from the periphery of a symbolic-moral universe towards its centre and vice versa, and which involve challenges (use or abuse) of power and morality would fall in the area of deviance. A distinction is made between regular deviance where the element of power is typically implicit and the element of morality is much more salient, and political deviance where the elements of power and morality are both explicit. Political deviance is further divided into three categories: challenges to the rulers, challenges from the rulers and contests between symbolic-moral universes from different cultures. Conceptualizing deviance in this way enables us to interpret processes of deviantization and criminalization within the context of central social processes. The November 1944 assassination of Lord Moyne is used to demonstrate how the above theoretical approach can be utilized to develop a sociological interpretation of the case.     

Gathering dark secrets,hidden and dirty information: Some methodological notes on studying political assassinations

Very little sociological research has been carried out on political assassinations and the methodological experience in sociology regarding this issue is consequently very limited. This paper presents an analytical summary of the methodological problems and experiences which were encountered during three years of research on the sociological and criminological patterns of political assassinations by Jews in Palestine and Israel between 1882–1988. Similar methods could be used to study other phenomena where the information can be characterized as secret, dirty and hidden.     

The role of the father in the family: Toward a gender-neutral family policy

A review of the literature suggests that: (a) Women are not the exclusive potential contributors to quality child care; (b) men can provide care equally well; (c) a growing number of men want to increase their involvement in child care. A number of obstacles impede, however, increased paternal involvement in child care; these include the existing societal value system, the present structure of the labor market, and the nature of many existing social services. Therefore, various aspects of social and family policy are examined and a variety of options are proposed.     

Counter-Cultural Movements and Totalitarian Democracy

Talmon's concept of "totalitarian democracy" is generalized, to make it applicable to the variety of counter-cultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s. In particular, we expanded Talmon's concept of political liberty into a more general desire for "liberation," offered in different forms by these movements. Accordingly, the movements are classified by two variables: the direction of liberation (inner or outer) to which they aspired, and the degree of their attempt to monopolize the means of its realization (monopolistic or pluralistic). Four types of movements are identified and examined for their potential for totalitarian democracy: (1) Movements of Self-Fulfillment, (2) Cults of Self-Realization, (3) Radical Protest Movements, (4) Revolutionary Movements. Marked differences in totalitarian potential were found, the lowest in movements of self-fulfullment and the highest in cults of self-realization.     

Recentering the world: the quest for ‘elective’centers in a secularized universe

The various ‘quests for meaning’of the ‘decentralized’contemporary Western youths are interpreted as so many attempts to ‘recenter the world’around new ‘elective centers’. Rather than being centers of the contemporary world into which the individual is born, such centers are located outside it, and freely chosen by the seekers. Four such elective centers are discussed: (1) traditional religious conversion, (2) the occult, (3) science fiction, and (4) tourism. Each of these elective centers is first briefly described and then analysed in a comparative framework, focused on six principal questions: (a) the social and cultural conditions which engender the contemporary ‘quest for a center’, (b) the nature of elective centers, (c) mechanisms of election and rejection of alternative elective centers, (d) extent of involvement with elective centers, (e) elective centers and the wider social framework, (f) the institution-building potential of the elective centers.     

THE SOCIOLOGY OF MORAL PANICS: TOWARD A NEW SYNTHESIS

There are two alternative theoretical perspectives developed in the sociological study of a moral panic: the moral perspective and the interest perspective. Using as illustration a May 1982 national moral panic about drugs that occurred in Israel, this article argues that both perspectives must be used and integrated into one coherent model for a better and fuller sociological explanation of moral panics. The article provides a detailed account of the Israeli panic and an analysis clustered along two axes. One axis uses the interest perspective to analyze the timing of the panic by focusing on the question of why it happened when it did. The other axis uses the moral perspective to interpret the specific content of the panic, focusing on why the panic was about drugs.     

CONTEXTUALIZING DEVIANCE WITHIN SOCIAL CHANGE AND STABILITY,MORALITY, AND POWER

The paper analyses the professional and political challenges facing the sociological study of deviance. Drawing on the sociological formulations of Emile Durkheim, and using a number of empirical demonstrations, the paper suggests that the study and interpretation of non-conformist and deviant behavior be repackaged and reframed within social processes of change and stability. To do that, it is recommended to use the constructivist approach, emphasizing the concepts of symbolic-moral universes and power.