Explaining youth deviance - Interactionalists

Question 1

What is Becker labelling theory ?

Answer 1

• labelling is related to power
• Those who have more power can make a label stick
• Labelling from powerful people can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy which means the label is internalised
• Changes behaviour
• E.g. Police calling youths deviant has an affect on them being searched and arrested

Question 2

What does Jock Young say about Hippies ?

Answer 2

• the police see Hippies as dirty, lazy and drug addicts
• the hippies therefore did more drugs to rebel
• drugs are now a central aspect to the Hippies identity

Question 3

What does Cicourel say about the social organisation of juvenile justice ?

Answer 3

• he looked at the process of dealing with deviant youths and put it into 3 stages
  1. The police start interrogating an individual based off if the person looks suspicious
  2. individual is arrested - based on appearance and mannerisms
  3. parole officer - judges the suspect based on the profile of a typical criminal
• he found the way the behaviour of the individual acted changes the way the police look at the situation
• says this is linked to social class
• concludes that delinquents are constructed by agencies of control (the police and probation officers)

Question 4

Evaluation of interactionism:

Answer 4

• Interactionist assumes the label comes first
• Doesn’t explain why youths commit deviant acts before labelling