Mark of Cain

This book is one of the great 20th century classics on the historical, cultural and social role of stigma in societies everywhere, but especially Western Society. Shoham, his erudition on display like no other, explores what it means to be stigmatized and how society becomes differentiated between 'us' and 'them.' The case study on Jean Genet, famous playwright and infamous thief, is an essay of genius, surpassing, some say, Sartre's Saint Genet. You will think about crime, criminals, the police who chase them and the judges who judge them in a very different light after you've read this book. Foreword by Marvin E. Wolfgang. Chapters include: ForewordIntroduction1. The Role Of Stigma In Norm-Sending And Norm-Receiving2. Psychopathy As Social Stigma: A Myth Revisited3. Deviant Behaviour And Value Deviation As A Predisposition To Social Stigma4. Deviant Behaviour, Value Deviation And Social Stigma5. The Process Of Social Stigma6. An Empirical Referent: Social Stigma And Prostitution7. The Formal Stigma And Its Consequences8. The Effects Of Social Stigma9. Social Stigma And The Criminal Group10. Jean Genet: A Criminal ManifestoNotesBibliography