Book Review: Control: Sociology's Central Notion
Abstract
BOOK REVIEWS Control: Sociology's Central Notion. By Jack P. Gibbs. (Champaign, IL: Univer- sity of Illinois Press, 1989. Pp. xi, 504) The central thesis posited in this voluminous effort is that sociology is an extremely diverse field demanding a general principle, or notion, around which its subject matter may be orga- nized. Those for whom criminology and criminal justice serve as a primary focus will welcome Gibbs' contention that control could provide that central no- tion. Control obviously is a central tenet of crime and deviance studies, but Gibbs artfully demonstrates its potential appli- cability across an extraordinarily wide gamut of sociological subjects, para- digms, and perspectives. He even asserts that control could provide the basis for integrating anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, and sociol- ogy. Although he suggests that the notion can accommodate the humanist as well as the scientific tradition, the hard-science analogy of trying "to imagine physics without the notion of force" (p. 13) and his identification of predictive power as the ultimate goal of sociology are not likely to be received enthusiastically within the former camp. The first section of this work, consist- ing of four chapters, provides a frame- work for the detailed