Adopting a symbolic interactionist perspective and building extensively on the ethnographic research tradition, this book analyzes the mystique that often accompanies deviance by examining deviance as an ongoing feature of community life. Because deviance is approached in nonprescriptive ways, as a product of community interchange, the emphasis here is on the ways in which deviance is defined, engaged, and regulated. It is examined as the product of human association, as something that is generated by people as they interact with one another, assume viewpoints and initiatives, and try to influence and resist one another within the context of community life. Prus and Grills do not attempt to address various deviant behaviors; instead, they provide readers with a glimpse into how deviance is formulated, practiced, viewed, and treated. Who defines deviance? Why? What are the effects of deviance on others? How do subcultures form? These and other questions are answered in this unique approach to the study of deviance. Providing a conceptually coherent framework for approaching the study of deviance as an ongoing feature of the human community, the authors pay special attention to the many theaters of operation in which people come together and engage one another with respect to morality and deviance. Recognizing that audience definitions of deviance are pivotal to community notions of reality and actual interaction, consideration is given to the interrelated processes of defining deviance, identifying deviants, regulating deviance informally and formally, and experiencing treatment and disinvolvement. This thoughtful consideration serves to shed new light on the mystique that has beencreated around ideas about deviance.

Despite the considerable attention given to 'power' by foundational sources such as Machiavelli, Hobbs, Weber, Durkheim, and Marx, and those social theorists who have built on their works, surprisingly little attention has been given to the study of power as an enacted feature of community life. Locating power more directly within a symbolic interactionist framework, Beyond the Power Mystique not only enables scholars to permeate much of the mystique shrouding power but, explicitly viewing power as intersubjective accomplishment, the material presented here fosters a research agenda that is highly attentive to the collectively articulated aspects of power relations.

Consideration is given to the ways in which power is brought into existence, implemented, experienced, sustained, objectified, resisted, dissipated, and reconstituted in actual practice. Addressing the full range of associations occurring in all human arenas, from small group settings to large scale theaters of operations, this volume provides a conceptually viable means of synthesizing so-called "macro" and "micro" realms of power. Prus considers people's definitions of, and routings into, situations of power, as well as the dilemmas they face, the strategies they assume, and the limitations they encounter as they enter into interchanges with others on both more individualized and collectively coordinated bases and in both long-term and more situated instances.

Ethnografie hat weiterhin den Geruch von Abenteuer. Der vorliegende Band bietet eine Heranfuhrung an die ethnografische Haltung und Praxis, mit der das immersive Abenteuer der Feldarbeit und das akademische Abenteuer der Schreibarbeit zusammen bestritten werden konnen.
Als von Interaktionisten verfasste Einfuhrung bietet er Einsteigern eine klassische, zuruck zu den Chicagoer Wurzeln fuhrende Praxis an, in der Intersubjektivitat, Offenheit, Unwagbarkeit, Aufs-Feld-Einlassen und kreative Neuschopfung aus dem Feld heraus betont werden. Dabei ist er theoretisch fundiert und feldpraktisch ausfuhrlich gehalten: Mit reichhaltigen Beispielen zeigt er auf, wie die Sammlung von Material, die begleitende Analyse und das schlussendliche Verfassen eines analytisch gebundenen Feldberichts organisiert werden konnen. Zugleich aber steht er in der interaktionistischen Tradition, die "Realitat des Feldes" als primare Realitat zu sehen, die nicht durch extern angelegte Theorie oder Methode planiert werden darf. Damit ist es eine Einleitung in eine kreative, pluralistische und bescheidene ethnografische Haltung.
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