The Federal Government and the Harassment of Black Leaders

A Case Study of Mayor Richard Arrington Jr. of Birmingham

Bibliographic Data

ID18965147
AuthorsMichèle Wilson (University of Alabama at Birmingham, corresponding author), John Lynxwiler (University of Central Florida)
Year1998
Volume28
Issue5
Pages540-560
Publication date1998-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Black Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9347 • E-ISSN: 1552-4566
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/002193479802800502
OpenAlexW1999087089
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited6

Why do people break the rules? A tremendous amount of energy has been expended by citizens and academicians in trying to answer this question. But even a superficial survey of human behavior reveals that we all break rules. Therefore, a more relevant and interesting question is Why, of all of the rule breakers, are some singled out for observation and investigation, being tried, and being officially pronounced as deviant? At root, this question is based on the assumption that nothing is inherently deviant. That rules are the result of unique social environments is obvious by observing cross-cultural and historical variations in rule systems. That is, rules-whether they are values, role expectations, or a legal system-are not absolute; they are relative to culture and to historical period. It follows that there can be no rule breaking unless there are rules; and rules, including those defining crime, are socially developed. Crime, then, is behavior so defined. Furthermore, there can be no socially recognized rule breakers unless someone has recognized that rules have been broken and is

Criminology · Government (linguistics) · Harassment · Linguistics · Political science · Law · Philippine History and Culture · Psychology · Social and Cultural Studies

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