The broader social factors that go into the classification of a behavior as deviant are thus considered a valid subject of study.
This is in contrast to the perspective of essentialism, which would say that a behavior either "really is" deviant or "really isn't", and that it is the task of the sociologist to discover and report on the truth of the matter, and what society at large believes is mostly irrelevant.
According to the constructionist framework as espoused by Goode, an instance of "deviance" can exist as a social construct exclusively, completely separate from any actual behavior.
In other words, "imaginary deviance" can exist that causes a frenzy of interesting sociological behavior in response to a non-existence phenomenon.
This commitment aims to reduce social harm without engaging in value judgments or essentialist claims about those being studied.
Goode has encountered criticism within the sociological community after admitting in an article in 2002[1] to engaging in casual sex with participants to his 1980s study of the National Association for the Advancement of Fat Acceptance, or NAAFA.
[3] Marijuana (1969) seeks to bring to the reader the whole configuration of this mushrooming problem, which, like the Sexual Revolution and the New Politics, lies at the heart of the alienation felt by many young people and the fears of social breakdown voiced by many of their elders.
Consistent in tone with the rest of his works, he takes the position that whether the phenomenon in question is real is not important to a sociologist.