Becker Crime And Deviance

Question 1

What sociologist perspective is Becker

Answer 1

Interactionalist

Question 2

What does Becker argue

Answer 2

• Deviance is created by society.
• Social groups create defiance by making rules, applying these rules to particular people and labelling them as ‘outsiders’.
• whether or not a particular act is seen as deviant depends on how others react to it. This varies according to when and where the act takes place, who commits the act and how feels harmed by it.

Question 3

How do people develop deviant careers overtime

Answer 3

1. Label applied to an individual
2. The label becomes a master status and assumptions are made which will affect how others see them.
3. Individuals will start to see themselves in term of the label producing a self fulfilling prophecy
4. The labelled individual as deviant will be rejected by certain social groups and have negative assumptions on their future
5. This may encourage further deviance which would be a deviant career.
6. This career is completed when the individual joins an organised group which develops into a subculture which would commit more deviant and criminal acts

Question 4

Criticism of Becker and interactionism

Answer 4

• does not explain why individuals deviate in the first place
• sees criminals as victims of labelling rather than as people who choose to commit crime
• interactionsm doesn’t focus enough on power inequalities between social classes