Self-Injurers as Loners: The Social Organization of Solitary Deviance
- 1 July 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Deviant Behavior
- Vol. 26 (4), 345-378
- https://doi.org/10.1080/016396290931696
Abstract
In this paper we examine the social organization of people who deliberately destroy or damage their own body tissue without suicidal intent. Best and Luckenbill ( 1982 Best Joel and David F. Luckenbill . 1982 . Organizing Deviance . Englewood Cliffs , NJ : Prentice Hall . [Google Scholar] ) have proposed two typologies of deviance performed by solitary actors: loners, who lack the regular association with fellow deviants and have no membership in a deviant subculture, and individual deviants, who are the actors and objects of their behaviors, yet socialize with others like them. Based on a convenience sample of 40 in-depth interviews with people who self-cut, burn, brand, scratch, bite, and bone-break, we describe and analyze the way their behaviors correspond to and differ from other forms of individual and loner deviance.This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
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