✅Interactionalism Flashcards
What are the foundations of the interactionalist view as outlined by Becker?
Becker’s view that in one sence there is no such thing as a deviant act, as an act only becomes deviant when others perceive it to be.
This means deviancy is a quality that lies in the interaction between the person committing the act and those who respond to it.
What is labelling theory based on?
The theorising of George Mead who suggested that we all have an interval dialogue between our personal view of ourselves and what we think others see when they deal with us.
Therefore labelling theory suggests we shouldn’t blame deviants but the interaction between deviants and those who define them as deviant.
What is the most important sentence regarding labelling
Labelling theory suggests that most people commit deviant and criminal activities but only some people get caught and stigmatised for it.
What does John Kitsuse argue about labelling?
In the early 1960s John Kitsuse found that attitudes to homosexuality varied, with some being quite tolerant to others showing extreme hatred. Not all homosexuals were labelled and hence suffered no consequences under law at the time.
(Crime is not dictated by the action but the reaction)
What social factors affect whether an act is seen as deviant or normal?
Place- nudity on some beaches not in a church
Social situation- killing in war vs in peace
Culture- alcohol is tolerated in western culture but illegal in Saudi Arabia
History- cock fighting were popular pastimes until outlawed in 1935 in England and Wales
Who commits the action- violent behaviour tolerated by men but women are seen as doubly deviant (Dobash and Dobash)
Name Becker’s most famous study
Howard Becker- “Outsiders: studies in the sociology of deviance”
Becker defined deviance as a transaction between someone who is alleged to have broken rules and those who claim that rules have been broken.
He drew attention to the different meanings of ‘deviant acts’ by different people and found that attempts to control deviance might in fact creat deviance.
What did Becker famously quote?
“Deviance is a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to the offender, the deviant is one whom the label has been successfully applied”
What study is Coombs perform in 1974
Interviewed Male prostitutes and suggested that a combination of social rejection and the rewards of gifts resulted in young males taking on this way of life.
What did Box find in 1981?
He identified 4 social reasons why ex-cons/inmates choose to remain as offenders rather than changing their life (60% reoffending rate) including social discrimination, where they are socially exiled.
What does Becker argue about the individual who’s been given a label?
He states that the label becomes a defining characteristic of a person known as a master status, everything a person does is seen in light of this master status.
What did Erving Goffman (1968) argues about the master status (social labels).
Argued social labels affect how we see people, so if a person is seen as different or inferior, perhaps for reasons such as mental illness, that label may influence how Others react to them as a ‘label’ is said to apply to that person.
Name an example of a master status.
Jimmy Saville, once viewed as a TV legend was given the master status of being a ‘paedophile’ after he was found guilty of molesting children and hence all actions henceforth were viewed in light of these depraved actions.
What did Rosenhans experiment find about labels?
A test group entered a mental institution with fake ‘paranoia, schizophrenia’ as they falsely claimed they heard voices saying ‘empty dull thud’. When they entered their ward they acted normally but their condition was not undiagnosed as they had the master status of crazy. Eventually they were discharged with ‘paranoia and schizophrenia in remission’, not cured of their fake disease due to their label.
What did Malinowski find in his study?
Malinowski describe how a young man killed himself after being public ally accused of incest, the islanders expressed horror and disgust publicly at the idea of incest but when investigates further it was found not uncommon and that it was only made deviant when made public.
The suicide was not the result of his action but of the process and consequences of the label.
What 3 points does Becker emphasise about Malinowskis study?
- Just because someone breaks the rules they will not necessarily be defined as deviant
- Someone must enforce the rules (in Malinowski’s case it was the rejected ex-lover of the girl involved in the incest.
- If a person is successfully labelled consequences will follow
What does Liazos (1972)state to negatively evaluate interactionalsim?
Interactionalism only tends to focus on the study of ‘nuts, sluts and perverts’. Only specific crimes are studied so labelling does not account for the crimes of the wealthy, personal crime etc etc
What did Ackers argue to negatively evaluate labelling theory?
Labelling theory puts too much emphasis on social reaction as the act is always more important than the reaction to it e.g rape, murder and child abuse are always deviant.
There should be more focus on the victim (could link to carol smart and postmodern feminism)
Who positively evaluates labelling theory?
New Marxists incorporates interactionalsit studies into their own approach, namely Taylor, Walton and Young, influential in making it the so called comprehensive theory.
What did interactionalsit Lemert find in his studies
Lemert differentiated between primary and secondary deviance.
Primary deviance= is illegal behaviour we all take part in but no one gets labelled for e.g general speeding/underage drinking. No label no consequence.
Secondary deviance= where a person is labelled and suffers the consequences from the deviance
As primary deviance is not labelled the person involved does not have a label and no change of the self image is involved, only secondary deviance leads to a dramatic change in self image.
How does Downes and Rock (2003) negatively evaluate Lemert.
Downes and rock (2003) argue that we can’t predict whether someone who has been labelled will follow a deviant career, because they will always have free will to choose not to deviate further :: Lemert is too deterministic.
What is the stigmatising effect?
Once you have a label it is difficult to get rid of it, and this label creates further deviance, e.g a 27 year old who’s been caught having sexual relations with a 14 year old it criminalised, he then looks for women of his own age who reject him based on his master status, he’s driven to look for younger women again.
What does Charles Horton Cooley describe?
He describes self as a looking glass, it’s the product of ones reaction to us. We as social actors reflect back to other their thoughts of us.
If others label us as deviant we gradually begin to act out a deviant career, a self fulfilling prophecy.
What did D.J West find?
He found in his research that convicted youngsters developed self images as ‘hard offenders’, while those who had committed offences without being detained did not. In this light prisons do not seem likely to be successful ways of dealing with crime as they reinforce criminal tendencies.
How does new left realist jock young negatively evaluate labelling theory?
It had an emphasis on the negative effects of labelling giving the offender a kind of victim status, :: they over-romanticise deviance and blame the agencies of social control for causing crime, when the perpetrator should be held accountable and the real victims of the crimes should not be ignored.
