The sociology of deviance was in its heyday when Prentice-Hall published this book in 1969. John Lofland traces the field from pre-World War II to the late sixties and pioneers the application of 'grounded theory' to the study of deviant behavior. In his new prologue, Joel Best writes, 'More than thirty years after the book first appeared, we have no better synthesis of the labeling approach.'

From the Prologue to the Percheron Press Edition:

'In 1969 John Lofland sought to organize the sociology of deviance.  He presented a synthesis, a framework, and invited sociologists to evaluate it. That invitation still stands and it deserves to be accepted.'