Interactionism and Labelling theory Flashcards
What do social action theorists argue about crime and deviance?
They argue that the vast majority of the population have broken the law and could be seen as criminals.
How do social action theorists view official crime statistics?
They challenge these statistics, arguing that they are social constructs.
What do labelling theorists focus on regarding crime?
They focus on how and why certain acts become labelled as criminal.
According to labelling theorists, what makes an act deviant?
An act is considered deviant not by its nature, but by society’s reaction to it.
What does Howard Becker argue about deviance?
He argues that social groups create deviance by creating rules and labelling certain people as outsiders.
What are moral entrepreneurs according to Becker?
They are people who lead a moral crusade to change the law.
What are the two effects of the moral crusade described by Becker?
- Creation of a new group of outsiders or deviants.
- Expansion of social control agencies to enforce the new rule.
What example does Platt (1969) provide regarding labelling?
He argues that the idea of ‘juvenile delinquency’ was created by upper-class Victorian moral entrepreneurs.
What did the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics campaign for in 1937?
They campaigned for the Marijuana Tax Act to outlaw marijuana use.
What factors influence whether a person is punished for an offence?
- Interactions with agencies of social control.
- Appearance, background, and personal biography.
- Situation and circumstances of the offence.
What did Piliavin and Briar (1964) find about police arrest decisions?
They found that decisions were based on physical cues and influenced by gender, class, and ethnicity.
What did Aaron Cicourel (1968) discover about police stereotypes?
He found that officers’ typifications led to a class bias in law enforcement.
What is the concept of negotiation of justice according to Cicourel?
Justice is not fixed but negotiable, influenced by the background of the offender.
What does Cicourel suggest about official crime statistics?
He argues that they do not provide a valid picture of crime patterns.
How do interactionists view official crime statistics?
They see them as socially constructed, reflecting decisions made at various stages of the criminal justice system.
What is the ‘dark figure of crime’?
It refers to the amount of crime that goes undetected, reported, and unrecorded.
What are alternative statistics used by sociologists?
Victim surveys or self-report studies to gain a more accurate view of crime.
What is primary deviance according to Edwin Lemert (1951)?
Deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled.
What is secondary deviance?
Deviance that results from societal reaction and labelling.
What is a master status?
A label that becomes a controlling identity for an individual, overriding all others.
What is the deviant career?
A path that individuals may follow after being labelled, often leading to further deviance.
What is deviance amplification?
A process where attempts to control deviance lead to an increase in deviance.
What did Stanley Cohen (1972) study regarding moral panics?
He studied the societal reaction to the ‘mods and rockers’ disturbances.
What is the difference between disintegrative and reintegrative shaming?
Disintegrative shaming labels the criminal as bad, while reintegrative shaming labels the act but not the actor.
What is the labelling model of mental illness?
It focuses on how doctors label individuals as mentally ill and the consequences of that labelling.
What do Thomas Szasz and Thomas Scheff argue about mental illness?
They argue that mental illness is a convenient label for explaining strange behavior.
What happens once a person is labelled as mentally ill?
They may be treated differently and face stigma from society.
What do Szasz and Scheff argue about mental illness?
They argue that labeling people as mentally ill is stigmatization and that psychiatric terms are used to control people.
What is the effect of labeling someone as mentally ill?
It creates a stigma, leading others to treat them differently and interpret their actions as symptoms of mental illness.
What does Lemert’s (1962) study of paranoia illustrate?
It shows how primary deviance leads to labeling and exclusion, resulting in secondary deviance and further justification for psychiatric intervention.
What is ‘master status’ in the context of mental illness?
It refers to how a label, such as ‘mental patient’, becomes the primary identity through which all actions are interpreted.
What was the outcome of Rosenhan’s (1973) pseudo-patient experiment?
Researchers were diagnosed as schizophrenic despite acting normally, illustrating the power of labels in psychiatric settings.
What does Goffman’s (1961) study of asylums reveal?
It reveals the process of ‘mortification of the self’ where an inmate’s old identity is replaced by a new identity as ‘inmate’.
What did Braginski et al (1969) find in their study of long-term psychiatric patients?
They found that some inmates manipulated their symptoms to achieve free movement around the hospital.
What is Jack Douglas’s (1967) interactionist approach to suicide?
He critiques official suicide statistics, arguing they are socially constructed and do not reflect the true rate of suicide.
What factors influence whether a death is labeled as suicide?
The interactions and negotiations between social actors like coroners, relatives, and friends can affect the labeling of a death.
What does Atkinson argue about coroners’ knowledge?
He argues that official statistics reflect the labels coroners attach to deaths and that their assumptions influence verdicts.
What is a criticism of Atkinson’s approach?
If all we have are interpretations of social reality, then his account lacks real facts about the actual number of suicides.
What does labeling theory reveal about the law?
It shows that the law is not fixed and is often enforced in discriminatory ways, reflecting the activities of control agents.
What is a deterministic implication of labeling theory?
It implies that once someone is labeled as deviant, a deviant career is inevitable.
What is a criticism regarding the focus of labeling theory?
It tends to focus on less serious crimes, such as drug-taking, and ignores the real victims of crime.
What strange conclusion does labeling theory imply about crime?
It suggests that without labeling, deviance would not exist, implying that unlabelled individuals are unaware of their deviance.
