Interactionalist Theory Flashcards
What do interactionists look at
The interactions between the criminal and the law enforcement eg police who have the power to give people the label of a ‘criminal’ .
The social construction of crime -
They believe there is no such thing as a deviant/criminal act only those who define as act as criminal or deviant.
What is labelling theory and who suggests it
Beker
Crime and deviance is based on subjective decisions
Police and courts have the power to define or label behaviour as criminal
- the socially constructed nature of crime means it varies over time and between cultures eg in some cultures it’s a crime to be gay.
What is selective labelling - why someone would be labbelled
Beker
Weather someone is labelled as a criminal depends on 3 things
1- who committed the act
2- where the act was committed
3- the negotiations between the ‘suspect’ and the agencies in control (courts)
Selective labelling- Who is most likely to be labelled
Beker- powerless groups are more likely to be labelled eg ethnic minorities, young black males, w/c ,
- these labels are due to stereotypes held by police of the ‘typical criminal’ eg they’re more likely to stop and search black males ( police 28x more likely to stop and search black people over white people.
The negotiation of justice
Cicourel
- decisions to arrest are influenced by stereotypes about what the typical criminal is.
-w/c are more likely to fit this stereotype so heavier policing in w/c areas leads to lore arrests of w/c which confirms and reinforces this stereotype.
The social construction of crime statistics
-OCS- only show crime that has been reported and many people don’t report their crimes so inaccurate
- dark figure of crime - different between OCS and CSEW (real rate of crime)
However self report surveys can also be inaccurate as they can forget, lie, exaggerate etc.
- focus on w/c crime and larger ignore crimes of the powerful.
Consequences of labelling
-Primary and secondary deviance
-Deviant subculture
What is primary and secondary deviance
Primary deviance - deviant act that has not been publicly labelled as deviant so did not override the persons self image so has little effect in the persons life.
Secondary deviance- an act that has been publicly labelled as deviant so effects the persons status and identity the negative label becomes the master lebel just see individual as their crime eg drug addict
What is deviant subculture
The master label given to criminals may force them to join a deviant subculture as they have been outcasted by society.
- they begin to associate w other ‘criminals’ producing a self fulfilling prophecy.
The label society gave them becomes true.
Conclusion - the consequences of labelling can actually increase crime.
Devience amplification spiral
Media exposure - exxagerates stories causing public concern about a certain type of people.
Moral Panic- media, police, public call for a crackdown on the devient person/ group.
reaction- labelled group feel marginalised alienated causing more divid between the two groups.
Increase authority response - police respond by making more arrests which increase public concern which pushes courts to make harsher punishments.
amplification- media continues to report arrests causing more moral panic leads to further police action. So the ‘criminals’ react to this unfair treatment resulting in further deviance creating a spiral of amplifying deviance.
Study of labelling
Young - hippies who took drugs
-smoking weed was first seen as harmless (primary deviance)
-hippie them got labelled by the police as junkies (secondary deviance)
- made divide between them forcing them into a drug subculture
-criminalisation of drug subculture and increase police activity led to deviant amplification spiral as it created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Evaluation of interactionist and labelling theory
✅Shows how actions of law enforcement agencies can be counter productive.
✅- research into the effects of labelling and now it can cause self-fulfilling prophecy and devient subcultures. Can stop teachers and police from labelling.
- to not take OCS at face value as they’re socially constructed and inaccurate.
❌- too deterministic suggests once you’re labelled you will commit more crime and ignores those who just free willingly choose to commit crime.
❌- ignores social reasons for crime eg relative deprivation, marginlisation, subcultures.
❌- some crime ismt socially constructed eg murdering a stranger will be regarded as deviant in most cultures regardless of the label given by society.
❌- doesn’t explain why people commit deviant acts in the first place without the label (primary deviance)
Positives of labelling
Braithwaite
Disintegrative shaming - crime and criminal labelled as bad and they’re excluded from society
Reintegrated shaming - labels the act as bad not the person ‘has done a bad thing but he’s not a bad person
^ encourages people to forgive the person and they’re encouraged to reenter society. Societys that take this approach have lower crime rates
