This book uses the Puritan settlement in 17th-century Massachusetts as a setting in which to examine several ideas about deviant behavior in society.

Combining sociology and history, Erikson draws on the records of the Bay Colony to illustrate the way in which deviant behavior fits in the texture of social life generally.

The main argument of Wayward Puritans is that deviant forms of behavior are often a valuable resource in society, providing a point of contrast which is necessary for the maintenance of a coherent social order.

Features

• Three themes illustrate Erikson's basic argument:
  • The author examines three "crime waves" which took place in the first century of settlement and suggests that the styles deviation a community experiences has something to do with the way it visualizes the boundaries of its cultural universe.
  • Next, he calculates crime rates for one region of the colony in order to test the notion that the number of deviant offenders a community can afford to recognize is likely to remain stable over time.
  • Finally, he reviews the Puritan attitude toward deviation and asks whether the ideological views which once sustained this attitude remain an important part of the context in which we deal with deviant behavior in our own day.