ABSTRACT
Five key conceptual areas are the nature of deviance, the social content of the criminal law, structure of the public, the measurement of deviance perception, and the definition of culture. The work of the labelling theorists has suggested that there is a close relationship between the forms and rates of deviance, and the activities of social control agents and agencies. Since researchers were going to measure people's perceptions of deviance, it seemed reasonable that the researchers should have some idea about what was the nature of deviance, suggesting to readers how to structure questionnaire and what questions initially to ask. One final problem remains to be considered concerning the social content of the criminal law, and that is the distinction that must be drawn between the criminal law as it is written and the criminal law as it is practiced. Criminal law textbooks draw the distinction between two types of criminal acts: mala in se, and mala prohibita.
