Interactionism Flashcards
How and why do certain acts become deviant?
Becker - criminals are not evil, they enage in acts that have criminal status bu the criminal system or society
Eg. Low income area = delinquency=arrests
what happens when it becomes known that a person committees deviant acts?
They become segregated, and become associated with other outsiders
= more and more labels so they continue to engage in criminal behaviour - as society expects.
MASTER CLASS HAS BEEN CREATED
What is a master status?
When the person sees themselves as their given label
what are moral entrepreneurs?
Lead moral crusades to change the law, to benefit those who it is applied to
Example;
Us Federal Bureau campaigned successfully to outlaw cannabis
Because; 1⃣ it creates outsiders
2⃣social control agencies increase the label = more deviance
What do moral entrepreneurs show?
That deviance is socially constructed
What are the evaluation points for “How and why do certain acts become deviant?”
✔️ good alternative, highlights subjective nature& how certian groups decide what is deviant
✔️ shows how we can treat offenders differently to aviod the self-fulfilling prophecy
❌ does not explain why people are being deviant in the first place eg Katz
❌ Ackers - individuals may do it as a rational choice
✔️ bernburg and krohn - explains why people get involved with more serious crime
Who gets labeled?
Whether a person is arrested, charged and convicted it depends on;
1⃣ individual interaction with agencies
2⃣ background and appearance
3⃣ situations and circumstances of offence
Who talks about the typical criminal?
Cicourel;
Police see activities of young lower class men from ethnic groups as suspicious = more likely to be arrest Middle class are more like to be cautioned and released ➡️ they do not fit stereotype & negotiate justice
What do they say firstly?
No act is inherently criminal or deviant in itself, at all times in all institutions - acts become criminal when labeled to be
What are the evaultion points for “who gets labelled?”
✔️ marxist - work on selective law enforcement shows the middle class are cautioned & released ✔️ solutions - police training ❌ new right &I functionalist ; Excusing criminals, statistics show low socio-economic groups and ethnic minorities do commit more crime
What are the effects of labelling?
Lemert - societal reaction
➡️primary deviance, deviant act before publicly labelled. Acts that are not organising “moment of madness”
➡️secondary deviance, publicly labeled. Being caught = marginalisation
Given negative master status = criminal career
What did jock yoing find about cannabis?
secondary deviance developed.
1⃣ police labeled hippies as lazy drug addicts = acted against them
2⃣ weed units them further
3⃣ Subcultural group = more deviant norms and values
🍅 label has created greater deviance
What are the evaluation points for the effects of labelling?
✔️ shows the power of labels
✔️ shows why people with a criminal master status feels like there is nothing to gain from stopping
❌ deterministic- Fuller, black girls can reject the label and still achieve in education
What did Jones find about the criminal justice policy?
Policy implications;
1⃣ decriminalising behaviour eg in Holland legalising cannabis
2⃣ law should not create a master state, use prison as the last resort
Who talks about positive labelling?
Braithwaite - disintegrative shaming is being excluded from society for deviant acts = NEGATIVE
Reintegrative shaming when we label the act but not the person = POSITIVE
➡️😊 avoids criminal master status
