Interactionism / Labelling Theory

Question 1

Who is labelled in society?

Answer 1

The social construction of deviance

Differential enforcement

Typifications

Question 2

Ao1 for the social construction of deviance

Answer 2

Labelling theorists believe that deviance is a social construction
Becker mentions powerful social groups create deviance by making rules and applying them onto those who they label as ‘outsiders’.
therefore, someone only becomes deviant after they have been labelled
Moral entrepreneurs are those who tries to change the law. This law has two effects. These are: creating a new group of outsiders who break the new rule.
And the other effect is the creation of a social control agency to enforce the rules and label offenders

Question 3

Ao3 of the social construction of deviance?

Answer 3

Marxist criticised labelling theory for failing to locate the origin of such labels in the structure of capitalism
Lea and young- argue that such groups do commit more crime and there are real social reasons for it

Question 4

Ao1 for differential enforcement

Answer 4

Not everyone who commits an offence is punished for it. Whether a person is arrested depends on certain factors. labelling theorists argue that the agency of social control tend to label certain groups as criminals.
Pilliavin and Briar - found police decisions to arrest are based on stereotypical ideas about dress, gender ethnicity and class and official police statistics show young black males are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched by police compared to white males

Question 5

Ao3 for differential enforcement

Answer 5

Labelling theory gives the criminal a victim status as it argues that a person is arrested because the police are judging them as a typical criminal. This ignores the real victims of crimes who have had their property stolen or been assaulted.

Question 6

Ao1- Typifications

Answer 6

Cicourel- argues that police use Typifications of the typical deviant.
Working class and ethnic minorities juveniles are more likely to be arrested . Once arrested, those from broken homes are more likely to be seen as dangerous, so they were treated
more harshly by the police.
Middle class juveniles are less likely to fit the Typifications and their parents use cultural capital to persuade the police that their children should not be seen as serious offenders.

Cicourel- spent four years using participant observation to see the interactions between the police and those who were arrested and he argues we should treat statistics as a topic in themselves and investigate the process by which they are constructed

Question 7

Ao3 - Typifications

Answer 7

Interactionism lacks any practical social policy focus. Left realists put forward realistic solutions to try to reduce crime especially in the inner city areas. Left realists argue that statistics reflect real differences in rates of offending as marginalisation lead to more crime being committed by minority groups.

Question 8

Ao1- the effects of labelling

Answer 8

Lemert- argues that labelling certain people as deviant causes society to then encourage them to commit more deviance and this creates secondary deviance

Primary deviance is deviant acts which have not been publicly labelled
For example, shoplifting and fare dodging.

Secondary deviance are deviant acts which have been labelled . Lemert argues that it only happens when someone has been caught for their crimes, and this causes a person to increase their criminal activity. in the eyes of the world, they are an outsider.

Question 9

Ao3 - the effects of labelling

Answer 9

Labelling theory is seen as deterministic. Assume that once an individual is labelled a self fulfilling prophecy will occur. This ignores free will to reject the label. And this fails to explain why people commit primary daviance in the first place.

Question 10

Ao1 self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 10

Being labelled may provoke a crisis for individual self-concept. One way to resolve this crisis is for the individuals to accept the label and accept the way that the world sees them. This prophecy, means an individual accepts status as a criminal and commits more crime in society. An example of this is an ex convict finding it hard to get a job so instead he seeks other outsiders for help this may result in him joining a gang.

Question 11

Ao3- self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 11

Right realists would argue is not the criminal accepting their label that causes more crime. It is rather that they have been poorly socialised.