Crime as disrepute

Defining disreputable acts and the criminal acts among them is difficult because society is complex and the political and coercive institutions of the state have their own internal complexity and relationship to different aspects of society. This chapter's definition of deviance builds on efforts of various scholars to establish frameworks for the study of crime and deviance. These efforts are inevitably linked to concepts of how norms evolve in societies, how the political system interacts with he society, and how individuals respond to and apply normative pressure. Building on these prior efforts, this chapter formulates a "pyramid of deviance" as a conceptual metaphor to be used in guiding and focusing the empirical understanding of crime. The last section of this chapter examine some implications of the pyramid and suggest weaknesses and new dimensions of crime and disrepute highlighted by the pyramid. (from the chapter)