Interactionism + Crime Flashcards
Interactionism - Crime as a social Construct- Becker
• No act is deviant, soc reaction makes it criminal once labelled
• Example –> Nudity
- In homes its normal + expected
- In public seen as deviant
- Defined differently depending on context
• Example –> Homosexuality
- Illegal till 1967
- Local government avt 1988 - can’t promote it
Interactionism - Evaluating Crime as a Social Construct - Functionalism + Marxism/Feminism
• Functionalism –> say crime is a reaction to strain - assumes shared norms + values
• Marxists + Feminists –> crime is defined by those in power- created strain through goals + limiting wc ability to achieve
Interactionism - Who Labels - Becker - Moral Entrepreneurs
• Moral Entrepreneurs –> Labelling is linked to power
- Moral entrepreneurs are leaders of Moral crusaders campaigning to change law to benefit all
- week to change: new group of outsiders (criminals) + expand control to enforce + label
• Example - Law Enforcement Agencies
- Claimed to campaign for laws to change but FBI campaigned fot Narcotics act
• Making Marijuana illegal to protect vulnerable but in reality it served to extend FBIs influence
Interactionism - Who Labels - Platt Example - Juvenille Delinquents
Juvenile Delinquents
• Dev as a response to moral entrepreneurs worried about vulnerable groups + children falling foul of law
• Fought to have children treated differently by courts = juvenile courts + new offences (traunting)
Interactionism - Who Gets Labelled - Cicourel - Negotiable
• Justice is Negotiable because definitions aren’t fixed
- women, elderly + white more able to negotiate labels because they are less likely to be perceived as criminal
• Dark Figure of Crime
- Believe official crime stats are social Constructs–> outcomes depend on labels + decision to prosecute
- Official stats tell us more about police
- Unreported/ unrecorded crimes
- Self report surveys are more accurate
Interactionism - Who gets labelled? - Pilarin, Blair + Cicourel - Typifications
• No indiv is intrinsically deviant - beh is labelled by others (depends on occasion)
• Typifications - Pilarin + Blair
- physical cues (gender, class age, ethnicity), time and place –> similar to stereotypes
- Cicourel –> influence officers decisions to offend or not
• lead to anti wc bias - higher crime rate, mc less likely to be charged
Interactionism - Evaluation of who gets labelled
• Functionalism –> Miller - Status frustration not typifications - wc experience strain so crime stats are correct
• Marxists –> divise + conquer wc - typifications are an ideology
• Neo-Marxists –> Agree typifications are true but bourg create labels not moral crusaders
Interactionism - Impact of Labelling - Lemert - Master Status
• Labelling someone as criminal creates more crime
• Primary Deviance = deviant act not publicly labeled (speeding slightly)
• Secondary Deviance = Labelled when crime is committed
- stealing = thief
• Secondary can become master status, overriding other labels + all actions interpreted in light of label
- control identity = identity crisis
Interactionists - Impact of Labelling - Lemert - Deviant Career + Hippie example
• Secondary Deviance = more Deviance = deviant career
- trapped, labelled + arrested, loose job, can’t reintegrate, contact other criminals = crime
• Example ‘- Young –> Drug Takers
- Notting Hill - hippies useful Marijuana, seen as primary Deviance until media labelled as deviant + police made drug arrest = can’t get job = more crime (drug dealer)
Interactionists - Impact of Labelling - Deviance Amplification Spiral - Cohen - Folk Devils
• Controllint Deviance = more Deviance
• Example - Folk Devils
- media report crime + create folk devil’s (reporting crime committed by certain group)
- creates moral panic = increased policing of labelled as folk devil’s = more Deviance
Interactionism - Labelling + Criminal Justice System - Triplett - Crackdown on minor offences
• Attempts to control + punish has opposite affect
• Triplett –> Crackdown on minor offences = more offencing + increases alienation of young = amplified Deviance
Interactionism - Labelling + Criminal Justice - Braithwaite - Label Differently
• Braithwaite - Shaming –> Labelling needs to be done differently
- Important offender feels social disapproval to feel remorse + discourage from referencing
- Stigmatised Shaming –> crime + criminal labelled = exclusion
- Reintegration –> act labelled not actor (limits master status)
Interactionism - Evaluating Labelling + Criminal Justice - Right Realists
• Right Realists –>
- crime + fear are real problems- should be taken seriously
- Harsh Sentencing + stigmatised shaming reduce crime
• make rational choice mot to commit coz costs
Interactionism - Evaluation
• Doesn’t explain why committed in first place
• Imploes deviant act is only deviant when labelled
• Deterministic –> Implies once labelled follow deviant career
• Offesnder seen as victims- ignores real victim
• Ignores power in soc
