Crime and deviance - Interactionism and Labelling Theory

Question 1

What is the main principle of labelling theory?

Answer 1

No act is inherently criminal, only when it is labelled as such; it is not the act, rather the reaction.

Question 2

Becker (1963) and the construction of deviance:

Answer 2

“Social groups create deviance by creating the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance.”

Question 3

Becker (1963) and ‘moral entrepreneurs’:

Answer 3

People who lead ‘moral crusades’ to have the law changed. This always leads to the creation of a new group of outsiders and the expansion of social control agencies.

Question 4

Platt (1969) and an example of moral entrepreneurs:

Answer 4

The idea of ‘juvenile delinquency’ was created by upper-class Victorian moral entrepreneurs to protect the young but only created a new class of outsiders (‘juveniles’) and the creation of status offences (crimes based on someone’s age like truancy).

Question 5

Piliavin and Briar (1964) and why someone gets labelled:

Answer 5

A officer’s decision to arrest someone depends on physical cues, like mannerisms, and personal characteristics, like race and class.

Question 6

Cicourel (1968) and the negotiation of justice:

Answer 6

Justice is not fixed but negotiable and who is prosecuted will be based on their ability to negotiate and the officer’s typifcations about what someone who commits that crime and deserves prosecution looks like; this is why the W/C are more likely to be prosecuted, not because they commit more crime.

Question 7

What is the labelling theorist perspective on how sociologists should use crime statistics?

Answer 7

Sociologists should not use crime statistics as a resource to prove their ideas, as the notion of crime is subjectively enforced based on typifications so gives no understanding
of group’s actual criminal behaviours; they should be used as topic for sociologists to investigate as it tells us about the typifications of social control agencies and how they label.

Question 8

What is the ‘dark figure of crime’?

Answer 8

Police crime statistics underestimate the amount of crime as much of it goes uncaught or unprosecuted due to the typifications of members of social control agencies. The ‘dark figure’ is the actual number.

Question 9

How do labelling theorists research the amount of crime? What’s the issue?

Answer 9

Self-report surveys and victim surveys give a more accurate idea as they ask the people involved in crime directly rather than looking at the filtered perceptions of control agencies. However, people may misrepresent their experiences with crime, minimising their own crimes or hyperbolising crimes committed to them.

Question 10

Lemert (1951) and the two types of deviance:

Answer 10

• Primary deviance: deviant acts that are not publicly labelled, not part of a deviant way of life so are easily rationalised and have little effect on the deviators identity.
• Secondary deviance: deviant acts that are the result of societal reaction to previous deviant acts and the internalisation of a ‘master status’ and leading to a deviant career.

Question 11

What is the process of secondary deviance for Lemert (1951)?

Answer 11

• Person commits a deviant act and is labelled as a deviant
• Person experiences stigmatisation due to label, many seeing them only based on it (master status)
• Person experiences a ‘crisis of self’ and may internalise the label as part of a ‘self fulfilling prophecy’
• Person goes onto commit ‘secondary deviance’ as a result of that internalisation and may join a deviant career or deviant subculture.

Question 12

Give 2 criticism of Lemert’s (1971) primary deviance.

Answer 12

• Unlike other theories like criminogenic capitalism or Right realists’ inadequate socialisation, Lemert fails to explain why people commit primary deviance in the first place
• Realists criticise the concept of ‘master status’ as failing to recognise the real victims of crime

Question 13

Young (1971) and evidence of secondary deviance:

Answer 13

Young points to hippy marijuana users in Notting Hill who originally didn’t participate in drug use as a core lifestyle but after being labelled and stigmatised by the control culture (the police), retreated into their groups and developed a deviant subculture where drug use was more core.

Question 14

Downes and Rock (2003) and the inevitability of a deviant career:

Answer 14

It is ultimately up to the individual whether they will choose to deviate further so a deviant career is not inevitable.

Question 15

What is the deviance amplification spiral?

Answer 15

Labelling theorists describe a process whereby the attempt to control deviance only creates more of it, which in turn inspires more attempted control in an escalating spiral.

Question 16

Cohen’s (1972) ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’:

Answer 16

Cohen created the theory of the deviance amplification spiral based on the public response to the conflict between the mods and rockers gangs; the media blowing them way out of proportion till till moral entrepreneurs called for a ‘crackdown’ and labelled the mods and rockers as ‘folk devils’ which only inspired more deviance and around and around we go.

Question 17

Triplett (2000) and the failures of social control:

Answer 17

Evidence shows that increased attempts to control deviant behaviour, as labelling theorists argue, only leads to more; in America, increased stigmatisation of young offenders and their crimes has only led to higher offending rates.

Question 18

What is the wider implication of labelling theory on criminal justice policy?

Answer 18

We should enforce fewer softer rules so people are labelled less and don’t fall down the deviancy amplification spiral; decriminalising soft drugs would reduce the number of people who internalise labels like ‘junkie’ and fall into harder drugs - the gateway isn’t the drugs themselves, but the societal reaction.

Question 19

Braithwaite (1989) and shaming:

Answer 19

There are two types of negative labelling:
- Disintegrative shaming: labelling the act and the person; leads to secondary deviancy and deviance amplification spiral; negative
- Redintegrative shaming: labelling only the act; avoids stigmatising the offender (leading to secondary deviance) but still makes them aware of the negative impact of their actions; preferable, shown to decrease crime and reoffence

Question 20

Durkheim (1897) and suicide:

Answer 20

Durkheim studied suicide with the intention of showing sociology is a science, arguing that the reason people commit suicide is due to ineffective social integration and social control. Interactionists reject his positivist approach and use of official statistics.

Question 21

Douglas (1967) and the meaning of suicide:

Answer 21

Douglas argues that official statistics are meaningless as they only tell us about the interactions of those involved in the statement, like coroners and relatives, than the real rate of suicide. For example, a coroner with strong religious beliefs may be unwilling to give a suicide verdict.

Question 22

Atkinson (1978) and coroner’s knowledge:

Answer 22

Atkinson argues that whether a death is ruled a suicide is based on coroner’s taken-for-granted typifications of a suicide: certain modes and and recent events were seen as ‘typical of suicide’. However, it is impossible to know the meanings the dead gave their deaths.

Question 23

Give a criticism of Atkinson (1978):

Answer 23

If he is right and we can only have interpretations of the social world, then his account is also nothing but an interpretation and we have no reason to accept it.

Question 24

Lemert (1962) and paranoia:

Answer 24

Paranoia is often a self-fulfilling prophecy: people with paranoia are viewed as odd and those around them discuss the best way to deal with them, this confirms their paranoia that people are conspiring against them which exacerbates their behaviour, possibly resulting in sectioning and ‘mental patient’ becoming their master status.

Question 25

Rosenhan (1973) and the pseud-patient:

Answer 25

Multiple researchers admitted themselves into hospitals, claiming that they heard voices. Once they were diagnosed with schizophrenia, all their actions were perceived through this lens, even when acting regularly: the staff interpreted them keeping notes of their experiences as symptomatic.

Question 26

Goffman (1961) and ‘total institutions’:

Answer 26

On admission to ‘total institutions’ like psych hospitals, inmates undergo ‘mortification of the self’ and the death of their old identity, through multiple degradation rituals, with many internalising their new identities.

Question 27

Braginski et al (1969) and psych patients:

Answer 27

Some psych patients adopt forms of resistance to the hospital: some inmates will manipulate their symptoms such that they are forced to stay but can move freely around the hospital and are not confined to the ward.

Question 28

Give 3 criticisms of labelling theory.

Answer 28

• It is deterministic, implying that labelling inevitably leads to a deviant career
• Implies that without labelling that deviance would not exist, coming to the conclusion that if someone commits a crime but is not labelled, they have not deviated.
• Failure to analyse the sources of labels leads to a focus on ‘middle-range officials’ like officers with no explanation of who makes the rules in the first place.