The study of social control has long been of academic interest. Group living requires the establishment of social and legal norms to govern behaviour, and societies seek to prevent violations of these norms by imposing penalties on those who break the rules. One form of legal violation is categorized as 'crime,' and the perpetrators as 'criminals.' Many criminologists study these rule-breakers to find out why they step outside the mores and laws of their society.

John L. McMullan's profile page

Robert S. Ratner's profile page

R.S. Ratner is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of British Columbia. John L. McMullan is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Saint Mary's University and an honorary adjunct professor at Dalhousie University.

If one is sympathetic to neo-Marxism, then Ratner and McMullan's book will be seen as a flexible creative attempt to come to grips with issues. If one is hostile, then its flexibility and creativity will be seen as making it difficult to pin down ambiguities. However, independent of one's idealogical stance, (this book)makes a powerful case for looking at deviance in Canada in relation to social controllers and their concerns.

The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology

On the whole the collection works well, deriving coherence from the fact that the essays were specially commissioned for the purpose. It was tough-minded to include the critical contribution from Ezzat Fattah, though Ratner would have done better not to have dismissed it as a "disingenuous defence of liberal reform" in advance, especially as his co-editor seems to share Fattah's impatience with the pessimists of the left. But there is no doubt that what we have here is an important and provocative contribution to the debate on criminality and the state.

British Journal of Canadian Studies

Ratner, McMullan, and Burtch's analysis is enlightening in its review of the different ways of conceiving how the State exercises its power.

The Canadian Journal of Sociology