Composed of a number of cross-cultural case studies in deviance, this unique book uses new anthropological research models to show how deviance is, in fact, an integral part of the sociocultural order. Anthropologists have tended to avoid studying deviance as a phenomenon in and of itself, focusing instead on particular kinds of deviance such as sorcery, alcoholism, and suicide. The editors argue that anthropology's typical immersion in the culture being studied is well suited to a fuller understanding of deviance. "Smart" and "proper," "soft" and "hard" deviance, and "staged deviance" define the models [that are] establishing the cross-cultural study of deviance as a new branch of scientific inquiry.