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sociology A2 - CRIME + DEVIENCE > interactionism and labelling theory > Flashcards

interactionism and labelling theory Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

what is top-down macro?

A
  • argue that ideas are shaped by society - society is top-down and individuals are puppets and created by society
  • focus on how institutions create and control us
  • positivist
  • functionalism: behavior is shaped, and controlled by shared norms, beliefs and values
  • marxism: social class relations
  • feminism: gender relations
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2
Q

what is ‘bottoms-up’ micro?

A
  • interactionism focuses on small scale studies
  • looks at how individuals make sense of what is going on around them
  • individuals develop meanings which influence the way they behave
  • interpretivist
  • labelling theory
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3
Q

BECKER: labelling theory

A
  • crime is a product of interactions between suspects and the police/courts
  • typically, those with power to the labelling
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4
Q

what is the social construction of crime?

A
  • deviance is not the quality of the act the person commits - relates more to who get labelled as a deviant
  • society creates rules - deviance is behavior that breaks these rules
  • heroin addict / compared to a nurse injecting a patient. same behavior yet a status change.
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5
Q

what are moral entrepreneurs (BECKER)

A
  • BECKER sees these as groups who construct deviance
  • these lead moral crusades to change laws
  • new laws create new groups of outsiders - those who break the laws
  • new laws cause the expansion of the social control agencies (police+courts) to enforce these laws and impose labels on offenders
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6
Q

PLATT - juvenile delinquents

A
  • PLATT: the term juvenile delinquency was created by victorian middle class moral entrepreneurs aimed at protecting young people at risk
  • this established juevniles as a seperate offender with their own courts
  • the state expanded its powers to go beyond criminal offences and include status offences
  • this means young people became criminals simply because of their age e.g. truancy, sexual promiscuity
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7
Q

AARON CICOUREL - participant observation results

A
  • CICIOUREL participent observation whilst working as a juvenile probation officer found that the police held a stereotypical view of a juvenile delinquent
  • police used TYPIFICATION: stereotypes of what a typical criminal is like
  • usually WC youths which led to intense policing of WC areas
  • criminal justic system also reflected this bias
  • MC youths generally let off
  • these arrests then became crime statistics
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8
Q

who gets labelled and arrested?

A
  • not everyone who commits a crime is punished

based on:
- their interactions with agents of social control police and courts
- their appearance and background
- the situation and the offence

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9
Q

social construction of crime statistics

A
  • interactionists argue that official stats are social constructions
  • based on a process of decisions and negotiations
  • outcome depends on the labels attached to individuals
  • the dark figure of crime (iceberg effect) nobody knows for certain the true level of crime
  • alternative statistics still have limitations
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10
Q

ways to measure crime

A
  1. crime statistics: number of convictions
  2. victim survey: more valid, but some victims may not be truthful
  3. self-report study: more valid but some people could lie/exaggerate
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11
Q

the use of crime statistics

A
  • CICOUREL’s study shows crime statistics don’t reveal a valid picture of crime
  • sociologists can’t use them as a study resource - not factual
  • they tell us more about how the agents of social control operate: who gets arrested/prosecuted
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12
Q

stages in the social construct of crime:

A

STAGE ONE: sentenced by police
STAGE TWO: arrested
STAGE THREE: charged
STAGE FOUR: prosecuted
STAGE FIVE: convicted
STAGE SIX: sentenced

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13
Q

EDWIN LEMERT: primary deviance

A

acts that are not publicly labelled - little significance e.g. drugs, speeding and litter dropping

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14
Q

EDWIN LEMERT: secondary deviance

A

is publicly labelled and relates to public relation

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15
Q

EDWIN LEMERT: master status

A

label successfully applied so all their other qualities are irrelevant

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16
Q

JOCK YOUNG: marijuana smokers

A
  • initially, drug taking was peripheral to the hippies lifestyle as outsiders - changed their appearance
  • retreated into a closed group - drug taking became central activity - attracting further attention from the police = secondary deviance
17
Q

what is a deviant career?

A
  • people labelled as deviant and find conventional opportunities locked off to them
  • they are pushed into further deviance
  • deviant career begins when the individual joins an organized deviant group facing similar problems
  • institutions such as prisons help make labels stick and contribute to further deviance
  • however, people can choose not to deviate further
18
Q

STEPHEN COHEN: mods and rockers

A
  • disturbances on bank holidays in seaside towns
  • mass media over exaggerated these reports as ‘hell bent on destruction’
  • deviancy amplification spiral
  • police made more arrests = the media reported more deviance = more people identified with mods or rocks = further disturbances
  • COHEN claimed that the media created a moral panic (law and order campaign) the mods and the rockes became folk devils: somebody who is a bad person
19
Q

deviancy amplication

(+JOCK YOUNG)

A
  • the police + media can generate an increase in deviance
  • being labelled deviant causes people to become stigmatized and cut off from mainstream society
  • development of subcultures
  • JOCK YOUNG’s study of drug use showed that police activity forced them underground and involvement in more criminal behaviour
20
Q

labelling + criminal justice policy

A
  • trying to control and punish young offenders often has the opposite effect
  • tends to make society see them as evil and less tolerant of petty crime
  • increases offending rates - encourages harsher sentences
  • negative labels push offenders to commit more crime
  • we need to make fewer laws
  • decriminalizing soft drugs - reduce the amount of secondary deviance
21
Q

disintegrative & reintegrative shaming

(BRAITHWAITE)

A
  • most labelling theorists see labelling as having negative effects
  • BRAITHWAITE argues it could be positive
  • disintegrative shaming: the crime AND the criminal are labelled as negative
  • reintegrative: labels the crime AND NOT THE CRIMINAL, this is more positive - avoids secondary deviance
22
Q

EVALUATION of labelling theory

A
  • draws attention to labelling
  • shows how labelling can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy
  • identifies certain types of people who are most likely to be labelled
  • shows the importance of the role social control agencies have when defining what is deviant
  • highlights role of moral entrepreneurs like the media in defining / creating deviance through moral panic
23
Q

WEAKNESSES of labelling

A
  • deterministic: once label is attached deviant career is inevitable
  • it sees criminals as passive victims of labelling but some choose to be deviant
  • criminals know they are breaking the law
  • fails to explain the cause of deviant behavior
  • labelling does not always create a self-fulfilling prophecy - some criminals never re offend
  • it assumes crime and deviance is down to societal reaction - ignores structural factors such as poverty
  • it tends to focus on less serious crime
  • ignores victims of crime
  • implies that without labelling deviance would not exist

sociology A2 - CRIME + DEVIENCE (5 decks)

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