interactionalism and labelling theories

Question 1

basic ideas of labelling theory

Answer 1

most people commit deviant and criminal acts but only some people get caught and stigmatised for it
crime is a social construct
understanding to the reaction of deviance rather then the cause of the initial act

Question 2

Becker: the social construction of crime

Answer 2

an act only becomes deviant when others perceive it as such and depends on societal reaction.
calls groups such as mass media and police who have the power and resources their definitions of deviance, moral entrepreneurs

Question 3

evaluation of Becker

Answer 3

too deterministic and ignores that some groups or individuals are able to reject their label.
fails to explain how moral entrepreneurs get their power to label.

Question 4

becker: selective law enforcement

Answer 4

police operate with pre existing conceptions and stereotypical categories of what causes trouble. influence the behaviour as to how they come across

Question 5

effects of labelling

Answer 5

once a person has been labelled deviant they come to see themselves as being labelled bad. term ‘master status’ once the label has successfully been applied to a person other qualities become unimportant

Question 6

Braithwaite’s idea on disintegrative

Answer 6

replacing the offender status with the master status of ‘criminal’ which shapes all future interactions and excludes the person socially

Question 7

brainwaite’s idea of reintegrated shaming

Answer 7

disintegrative shaming can be replaced with reintegrated shaming which is the deviant act that is shamed and not the individual who commits it. helping the offender to realise that the bad acts have a negative consequences for others

Question 8

restorative justice

Answer 8

meeting with the offender and victims which victims can talk about how it negatively affecting them and the offender has a chance to feel remorse and apologise for actions

Question 9

Lemert primary deviance

Answer 9

deviance that hasn’t been publicly labelled. there are few consequences because its not publicly known

Question 10

Lemert secondary deviance

Answer 10

an offender is discovered and publicly exposed the label is attached to them

Question 11

evaluation of Lemert

Question 12

the inuits of Canada

Question 13

cicourel on social control and negotiated justice

Answer 13

police officers decisions to arrest are influenced by their stereotypes about offenders.
led them to concentrate on certain types resulting in law enforcement showing class bias
justice is not fixed but negotiable

Question 14

methods link: cicourel

Answer 14

used participant and non participant observation. went on patrol with the police and sat in the courtroom

Question 15

cicourel evaluation

Answer 15

Marxists would argue that he doesn’t consider where these stereotypes came from in the first place

Question 17

Jock young on labelling

Answer 17

Response to deviance can generate an increase in deviant
Become stigmatised and cut off from society as a result of their awareness of deviance they developed their own subculture

Question 18

Jock young on deviancy amplification

Answer 18

Increased police activity led to drug use to be driven underground. Which isolated users into a drug subculture which makes them harder to get jobs which makes it difficult to buy drugs which drove drug prices up that developed drug rings and illicit drug businesses causing widespread public concern and clamps down further

Question 19

Cohen on labelling

Answer 19

Perceptions of crime is created by the media.
Socially constructing people’s reality of law creation
Moral panic overlaps and compliments deviant application

Question 20

Mods & rockers

Answer 20

Easter bank holiday 1964, incidents of fighting and 24 arrests
Due to a shortage in newsworthy stories events were exaggerated and portrayed as deliberate calling it a planned violence
Mods and rockers became aware of their label and anticipated violent clashes
Police were prepared to deal with predicted violence and police reacted to slightest hint of trouble