Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance

by Kai Theodor Erikson

Book Overview

This book uses the Puritan settlement in 17th-century Massachusetts as a setting in which to examine several ideas about deviant behavior in society. Combining sociology and history, Erikson draws on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0023322004
• ISBN13: 9780023322006
• Release Date: January 1966
• Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Wayward Puritans

This is a remarkably clear, insightful, and readable study on the topic of social deviance. It is one of the rare academic studies that is also an enjoyable read - combining plainly stated theories with a compelling story to illustrate the theoretical points. While the reviewer from Seattle seems to view this book as providing ammunition for an anti-"right wing Christian" agenda, I found it to be much more value-neutral, and not a polemical work at all. It brackets out of the argument judgements on the validity of the theological points held by the Puritans, and focuses instead on the social forces that led to the Salem witch-hunt. Erikson presents this historical episode as a particularly clear case of the more generic social phenomenon of a witch-hunt. His framework for understanding the events in Salem can be applied equally well to other historical witch-hunts, such as the Stalinist purges in the Soviet Union and the McCarthy hearings in the United States.

Puritans, maybe. Wayward, absolutely.

This book should be required reading for anyone interested in political science, history of religion, American history, or for anyone who is a right wing Christian. It is well researched and historically accurate. The writing style is a joy to read. Having been taught how wonderful our founding fathers were and how they left England to escape religious persecution, it is quite an eye-opener to read this book. Apparantly religious freedom was reserved only for the Puritans themselves, not others. Anyone who didn't believe as they did was thoroughly sanctioned if not removed. They weren't leaving Europe to escape religious persecution, they were looking for a new country in which to locate their own brand of bigotry. Maybe if this were required reading in Christian right wing schools, a few budding liberals could still be saved.

Puritans maybe, wayward absolutely

This book is a real eye opener for those of us who have been taught how wonderful our founding fathers were, searching for religious freedom and all. Freedom was apparantly something for themselves, not others. I think this book should be required reading in high school if not in college. Certainly it should be required in any born again Christian type school. It would likely annoy many religious rightests but might just save one or two budding liberals out there.