Criminal justice, sociology, and academia

Abstract

orientation neglected a thorough analysis of power and institutionalized malice such as poverty, racism and war. The transition from social problems to devi ance enabled sociology to shed one bias and move to another. Now, twenty years later, the apparent humanism of the sociology of deviance has been replaced with the occupation orientation of criminal justice. The tran sition from social problems to deviance to criminal justice has had profound effects on the form and content of the study of deviant behavior. The rise of criminal justice has also had an enormous effect on enrollments in sociology and eventually on the discipline of sociology itself. The study of social problems we argue has been replaced by a commodified, career-oriented approach, which ultimately undermines theoretical diversity and any humanism in the sociologi cal treatment of crime and deviance.