ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises existing theories and views, to point out the intentions and inadequacies of specific paradigms, and to indicate why a combination of approaches is necessary for an evaluation of the division between mainstream and special school deviance. Handicapped people have been treated with disrespect and suspicion. The example of ancient Spartans, who used to dispose of handicapped newborn babies by throwing them from a cliff, is perhaps extreme, but attitudes towards handicapped adults and children have been unfriendly and even hostile. The chapter examines a sociological approach that does not consider academic failure the sole reason for the creation of a pupil sub-culture. Interactionism arose as a reaction to the models and their generalizations concerning pupil orientations. In the context of interactionism a new theory developed rested on the assumption that deviance becomes important when recognized and named as such. The chapter presents a study of deviance in mainstream schools based on a sociological tradition.
