Interactionist and labelling theories of Crime Flashcards
What are the 3 central beliefs which underlie interactionism according to Blumer?
Humans act towards things on the basis of meanings, Those meanings are derived from social interaction, Meanings are modified through interpretive processes
How do interactionists define deviance?
From an interactionist perspective, deviance is an act which has been labelled as such
How did interactionism challenge functionalism?
Interactionist question why some behaviour is defined as criminal or deviant in some contexts but not others, Interactionists also argue that deviants are not a distinctive population and we instead should look at the process of interaction and argue that the search for the causes of deviance is seen to be fruitless
What is ‘labelling theory’?
Labelling theory States that there is nothing intrinsically deviant about any act. It only becomes deviant when it is seen as such and labelled as such
What is the difference between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ deviance?
Primary deviance is deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled whereas secondary deviance involves acts which have been publicly labelled as deviant and the deviance which is generated by the label
Explain what is meant by master status and self-fulfilling prophecy?
A master status is one which overrides all other statuses and the self fulfilling prophecy is a prophecy which comes to pass simply because it has been made and has been internalised which causes it to fulfil itself
Evaluate ‘labelling theory’
It draws attention to the importance of labelling and societal reaction and it shows that certain types of people are singled out for labelling. However, it has been criticised on the grounds that deviance is not simply created by the label and labelling theory fails to explain why certain types of people are selected as likely deviants rather than others
According to Stanley Cohen, what is a ‘moral panic’?
A moral panic occurs when a ‘condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests’ which tends to be instigated by the media
Summarise the deviance amplification spiral described by Cohen
Deviancy amplification is a process in which deviance is increased by societal reaction such as the mods and rockers
What do interactionist theories of crime and deviance reject?
Official statistics on crime and structural casual explanations of crime and deviance
How do interactionists criticise official crime statistics?
They see them as little more than social constructions and they argue that they vastly underestimate the extent of crime and do not present an accurate picture of the social distribution of criminality
What term does Becker use to describe agents of social control?
Moral entrepreneurs
According to Becker, what is the consequence of a socially created nature of crime and deviance?
It varies over time and between cultures
What does Becker believe to be the amount and distribution of crime to be dependent upon?
The processes of social interaction between the deviant and powerful agencies of social control
According to Becker, what can the acquisition of a label cause an individual to gain?
A master status
What is a master status?
A status/label that dominates and shapes how others see the individual
What is the consequence of gaining a master status?
The individual effectively becomes stigmatised which leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy where they take up a career of deviance
According to interactionists, how do the media amplify crime?
They demonise deviants and create moral panics
Recent studies have shown how increases on the attempt to control and punish young offenders are having the opposite effect. Give an example
In the USA, Triplett notes an increasing tendency to see young offenders as evil and to be less tolerant of minor deviance
How does Becker define a ‘deviant’?
Someone to whom a label has been successfully applied
According to labelling theory, whether a person is arrested, charged and convicted of an offence depends on what factors?
Their interactions with agencies of social control, their appearance, back and personal biography and the situation/circumstances of the offence
What did Piliavin and Briar find about what influenced officers decisions?
They found that officers decisions were based on physical cues, the suspects gender, class and ethnicity, as well as by time and place
Cicourel found that officers typifications led them to concentrate on certain ‘types’. What are typifications?
Their commonsense theories or stereotypes of what the typical delinquent is like
What are the consequences of officers having typifications?
Law enforcement shows a class bias which, in turn, led the police to patrol working class areas more intensively, resulting in more arrests and confirming their stereotypes
In Cicourel’s view, justice is not fixed but negotiable. Give an example of this
When a middle class youth is arrested he is less likely to be charged. This is partly because his background did not fit the idea of the police’s typical delinquent, and partly because his parents were more likely to negotiate successfully on his behalf
Who distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance?
Edwin Lemert
What are the consequences of an individual being given a master status?
It provokes a crisis for the individuals self-concept or sense of identity
What is one way for an individual to resolve the crisis for their self-concept?
For the individual to accept the deviant label and see themselves as society sees them, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy
What may secondary deviance lead to?
It may provoke further hostile reactions from society and reinforce the deviant’s outsider status which may lead to a deviant career
Who uses the concepts of secondary deviance and deviant career in their study of hippy marijuana users in Notting Hill?
Jock Young
What do Downes and Rock note about deviant careers?
They argue that we cannot predict whether someone who has been labelled will follow a deviant career, because they are always free to choose not to deviate further
What is a deviance amplification spiral?
A term labelling theorists use to describe a process in which the attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in the level of deviance
Who sees the labelling process as having a more positive role?
John Braithwaite
What two types of negative labelling does Braithwaite distinguish?
Disintegrative shaming where not only the crime but also the criminal is labelled as bad and is excluded from society and Reintegrative shaming where the act but not the actor is labelled
How is labelling theory criticised?
It is deterministic and fails to explain primary deviance and the origin of the labels
