interactionism and labelling theory Flashcards
what do criminals do?
break the law
Beckers quote on labelling theory
Deviant behaviour is behaviour people so label
what do labelling theorists look at?
how and why rules and laws get made.
what are moral entrepeneurs?
People who lead a moral crusade to change the law.
acccording to Becker what are the two effects of law changing?
1.creates a new group of outsiders
2.expands social control agencies to impose labels on offender
what does platt argue about juvenile delinquency?
created by u/c victorian moral entrepeneurs, it established juveniles as a separate category of offenders and extend its power
what does becker argue social agent control campaign for? and why?
changes in law to give them more power
what factors depend on whether a person is arrested, charged and convicted?
interactions with social agencies, their CAGE, context of the offence.
what are typifications?
stereotypes of what a typical delinquent are
leading to police focusing on a type
what did police typifications lead to?
who came up with this concept
led to police bias of w/c ares leading to more arrests confirming their bias
cicourel
what is the negotiation of justice?
justice is negotiatable for example mc youths are less likely to be charged
according to the negotiation of justice why did mc youths not get arrested?
they didnt fit the typifications of a criminal
how do interactionist see crime stats
as a social construct
what does crime stats show about the criminal justice system?
show thee activities of the crimianl justice system rather than the crime itself.
what is the dark figure of crime
difference between the real rate and the official statistic of crime
what is alternative statistics?
the use of victim surveys and self reports to gain more accurate amount of crime
which sociologist came up with the distinction between primary and secondary deviance?
Lemert
what does primary deviance mean?
devaint acts that havent been labelled yet
what is secondary deviance?
person is already labelled as a deviant but still commits
why does Lemert think its pointless to seek causes of primary deviance?
because it is so widespread
what is a master status?
when an individual is labelled other see them as that label and becomes their identity
what does the master status lead to?
it leads to self concept or self fulfilling prophecy as they may end up aiming to live up that label
what is a deviant career?
secondary deviance promotes more hostile reactions reinforces outsider status leading to more crime
what is the study of the hippies in notting hill?
drug use wasn’t the main part of their identity but due to labelking and persecution it led to them isolating creating a deviant subculture. drug use became a central part of their identity.
who came up with the study of the hippies?
Young
what is the deviance amplification spiral?
when the attempts of controlling deviancy leads to an increase in deviancy
what are the affects of the deviance amplification spiral?
leads to more attmpts to control leading to more deviancy
what was cohens study?
deviance amplification spiral
folk devils and moral panic, a study on the mods and rockers in the 70s
how did the mods and rockers lead to a deviance amplification spiral?
press exaggeration and distortion began a moral panis calling for a crackdown leading to mor arrests and harsher penalties provoking more public concern.
the mods and rockers were marginalised from society causing more crime and deviancy
what is disintergative shaming? (Braithewaite)
where both the crime and the criminal is labelled as bad and excluded from society
what is reintegrative shaming?
labels the act not the actor
who came up with the concept of disintegrative and reintegrative shaming?
Brathwaite
why is reintegrative shaming beneficial?
it becomes easier for the actor to be welcomed back into society
what type of shaming does braithwaite argue slows down crime rates?
reintegrative.
what did durkheims study of suicide show?
showed he found the causes of suicide in how people are effectively sociolaised
why is douglas critical of official statistics when studying suicide?
it is socially constructed and show more about the activities of those who construct them.
what method does douglas say is more effective to study the meanings behind suicide?
use qualitative methods such as suicide notes to allow us to ‘get behind’ the label
example of stats showing activites instead of act
a coroner with strong religious beliefs may be reluctant to label a death as a suicide
what does atkinson argue official stats show
a record of the lobels coroners attach to deaths
instead of stats what does atkinson focus on when looking at death
he focuses on the taken for granted assumptions coroners make when reaching their verdict.
if the deceased took more than ten sleeping pills then it is a suicid
who studied paranoia?
Lemert
what did lemerts study on paranoia show
some dont fit easily into groups. due to this primary deviance others label them and begin to exclude him leading to secondary deviance further excluding them
outline the process of becoming labelled as paranoid or mentally ill
lemert
- individual dont fit into group
- become labelled as odd
- become excluded
- leads to secondary deviance
- further exclusion
- lead to psychiatric intervention
- officially labelled against will
- becomes master status
what was rosenhans study of pseudo patient
researchers admitted themselves into hospitals claiming they could hear voices despite acting normal ‘mentally ill’ became their master status
what is goffmans study on instutionalism
asylums
what is the process of mortificication
on admittance prisoners symbolically kill their old self
what some inmates/prisoners do when institutionalised?
adopt various forms of resistance to accomodate to their new situation
Evaluate the labelling theory
too deterministic
emphasises the negative effects of labelling
focus on less serious crime such as drug use
