The Social Organization of Deviants

Abstract

In this paper, we present a framework for understanding the social organization of deviants—the patterns of relationships between deviant actors. Deviants organize in forms of varying sophistication. Beginning with the least sophisticated form, we discuss loners, colleagues, peers, mobs and formal organizations. A comparative analysis of these five forms suggests that organizational sophistication has several consequences for deviants and social control agents: it affects the complexity of deviant operations, the types of socialization and services provided to deviants, the members' involvement in deviance, and the security of the members' deviant operations. Some implications for the study of social organization are then considered.