Interactionism and Labelling theory

Question 1

What do interactionists argue about deviant acts?

Answer 1

No act is inherently deviant, they only become deviant once they’ve been labelled so.

Question 2

For Becker, what is a deviant?

Answer 2

A person who has had a label successfully applied to them

Question 3

In the eyes of Becker, who is it that leads a crusade to change the laws?

Answer 3

Moral entrepenuaers

Question 4

What are the two inevitable effects of Becker’s moral entrepenuaers?

Answer 4

1- A new group of outlaws who break the law

2- The creation or expansion of social control agencies to enforce the rule

Question 5

What does Platt argue about juvenile delinquency? What is a status offence?

Answer 5

It was a result of upper-class Victorian ME’s to protect young people at risk. With ‘status offences’ being acts that are only an offence due to age

Question 6

What does Becker note about social control agencies? What is an example of such?

Answer 6

1- They may campaign against something to increase their own sphere of influence
2- The Marijuana Tax Act in 1937

Question 7

According to Becker what is it that causes acts to be ‘deviant’ if not harmful effects?

Answer 7

Those in power to redefine behaviour in a deviant light

Question 8

What three factors depend on whether someone is arrested, charged and convicted?

Answer 8

1- Their interactions with agencies of social control
2- Their appear, background and personal biography
3- The situation and circumstances of the offence

Question 9

What did Piliavin and Briar find about police decisions to arrest the youth?

Answer 9

It was mainly based on physical cues such as manner and dress but was also dictated by time of day and area

Question 10

What did Cicourel propose?

Answer 10

The negotiation of justice

Question 11

What did Cicourel find about officers typifications? What did it lead to?

Answer 11

He found that their commonsense theories led them to focus on a particular ‘type’ of person, leading to class bias

Question 12

What did the class bias Cicourel observed lead to?

Answer 12

The police patrolling working-class areas more than middle-class areas

Question 13

What Cicourel say about justice? It’s not fixed it’s

Answer 13

Negotiable

Question 14

What does Cicourel argue about crime statistics?

Answer 14

They aren’t a valid representation of crime so can’t be used as a resource

Question 15

What does Cicourel say crime stats should be used for?

Answer 15

As topics for sociological investigation

Question 16

What do statistics show about crime rather than the amount of crime?

Answer 16

The activities of police and prosecutors

Question 17

What is the Dark Figure of Crime?

Answer 17

The difference between recorded criminal activities and that which goes unrecorded

Question 18

What are alternative statistics?

Answer 18

Things like victim surveys that show crime stats from unrecorded crimes

Question 19

Who distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance?

Answer 19

Lemert (1951)

Question 20

What is primary deviance?

Answer 20

Deviance that often goes uncaught such as fare dodging

Question 21

What is secondary deviance?

Answer 21

Deviance that results in societal labelling

Question 22

What is the master status?

Answer 22

The controlling label someone attaches to themself

Question 23

What is a negative master status likely to lead to?

Answer 23

A self-fulfilling prophecy and a deviant career

Question 24

How do Downes and Rock criticise is Lemert and Young?

Answer 24

They note that you cannot predict whether labelled people will follow a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 25

What is the deviance amplification spiral?

Answer 25

Deviance is a reaction to attempts to reduce deviance

Question 26

What is Cohen’s example of the deviance amplification spiral?

Answer 26

The mods and rockers

Question 27

What is a folk devil in comparison to the dark figure of crime?

Answer 27

A folk-devil is someone over-labelled by society

Question 28

What did Triplett note about the stigmatisation of young offenders?

Answer 28

Triplett noted the labelling has led to higher rates of reoffending rather than the lower rates attempted through harsh punishments

Question 29

What does Triplett’s observations suggest about police policies?

Answer 29

We should impose less laws to reduce secondary deviance

Question 30

What two forms of shaming does Braithwaite note?

Answer 30

1- Disintegrative shaming - Both the criminal and the act are shamed

2- Reintegrative shaming - Only the act is shamed, “He did a bad thing” not “he is a bad person”

Question 31

What does Douglas argue about suicide?

Answer 31

Suicide statistics are the same as crime statistics, they’re socially constructed. To properly study it we must use qualitative methods

Question 32

What does Atkinson ague about suicide?

Answer 32

That we must use coroners knowledge of the deaths to dictate which deaths were suicide

Question 33

How is Atkinson criticised?

Answer 33

His acknowledgement of subjective opinions means his own idea can be used against him

Question 34

Is labelling theory deterministic?

Answer 34

Yeah

Question 35

What does its emphasis on negative effects do?

Answer 35

Ignores the real victims of class

Question 36

What level of crime do interactionists focus on?

Answer 36

Low-level

Question 37

What do interactionists ignore about peoples capacity to be deviant?

Answer 37

People can opt to be deviant

Question 38

What does interactionism imply about the existence of crime?

Answer 38

Without labels it wouldn’t exist

Question 39

What would conflict sociologists say about interactionism?

Answer 39

They acknowledge the role of power structures in creating deviance but don’t analyse the source