interactionism and labelling theory Flashcards
What can labelling depend on
Interactionist with agencies of social control
Appearance and background
Situation and circumstances
What did piliavin and Briar find out about labelling
They found decisions to arrest depended on physical cues
Cicourel
found that officers typifications led to them to concentrate on certain “types”. this resulted in law enforcement showing a class bias in that working class areas an people fitted the police typifications most closely.
Typifications
Commended theories of what. Typical delinquent is like e.g we areas, more patrols conforming stereotypes
What does statics tell us
About activities of police she prosecutors “decision gates”
Dark figure
Crime that goes undetected unreported and unrecorded
Alternative statistics
Self report studies
Limitations of self report studies
People can lie or exaggerate
Lemert(1951)
Distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance.
..primary deviance
Refers to deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled. Lemert argues that is pointless to seek the cause of primary deviance is widespread
Secondary deviance
the result of societal reaction- that is labelling
What happens when a criminal is labelled
The criminal is then stigmatised or excluded from normal society
Master status
Once an individual is labelled this is how others see him
What does a master status result in
Self fulfilling
deviance amplification spiral
Is term labelling theorists use to describe a process in which the attempt to control deviance lead to increase in the level of deviance
Cohen’s folk devils and moral panic
A study of societal reaction to “mods and rockers” disturbances involving groups youths it’s at English seaside resorts
How was the press begin a moral panic in Cohen’s study on folk devils
Press exaggeration and distorted reporting of the events began a moral panic wiry growing public concern and moral entrepreneurs calling for a crack down
Triplett
Noted an increasing tendency to see young offenders as evil and less tolerant of minor deviance
Braithwaite
Identifies a moral positive role of labelling process. He distinguishes between two types of shaming
Disintegrative shaming
Where not only by crime, but also the criminal, is labelled as bad and the offender is excluded from society
Reintegrative shamming
By contrast, labels the act but not the actor as if to say he has done a bad thing rather than he is a bad person
Douglas suicide
Official Suicide statistics are socially constructed- decisions of police and coroners
Relatives sometimes feel guilty and press for alternative verdicts
Coroners with strong religious beliefs may be reluctant to bring verdict
Suicide Atkinson
Agrees that official statistics are merely a record of the labels coroners attach to deaths. He argues that is it impossible to know for sure what meanings the dead have to their deaths
Found ideas about the “typical suicide”
eg hanging and sleeping pills
A03 suicide Atkinson
His own theory can be accused of “just interpretation” and not fact
Paranoia lemert
Lemert notes that some individuals don’t fit easily into groups.
As a result of primary deviance labelled as odd and excluded
People discussing the label leads to a reaction of paranoia this leads to a psychiatric invention
The label of the illness becomes their master status
Goffman initialisation
On admission inmate undergoes a “mortification of self”
Old identity is killed off and you are given a new one “inmate”
Achieved by “degradation rituals” e.g confiscation of objects
Some internalise this identity, others adopt forms of resistance eg manipulative system
Evaluation of the labelling theory
Shows us that the law is not fixed set of rules reinforced in discriminatory ways
Deterministic implies that the deviant career is inevitable
Emphasis on negative effect of labelling gives the offenders a victim status and ignores the real victim
