This article demonstrates the potential of small group laboratory research for attacking some of the theoretical and methodological problems currently confronting the societal-reaction perspective in the field of deviance. The results of small group research by Schachter, and Sampson and Brandon are reinterpreted within a conceptual framework derived from the societal-reaction literature. These two studies suggest that inclusive reactions to deviance attempt to control deviation through intense interactional pressure, accompanied by relatively low attitudinal hostility toward the deviant. Exclusive reactions to deviance reject the deviant as an outsider and are characterized by low levels of interaction, but high levels of covert hostility. Inclusive reactions tend to occur when deviance is attributed to a particular situation, whereas deviance attributed to the character of the deviant tends to result in exclusive reactions.