Interactionist theories Flashcards
overview of interactionist perspective
establishing a distinction between ‘deviants’ and ‘non-deviants’ is difficult because many people involve themselves in some sort of crime/deviance, just some acts are publicly regarded as a ‘crime’ due to how we have labelled them therefore attempting to find the cause of crime is pointless
how do interactionists view official crime statistics?
interactionists argue official crime statistics are social constructions which show an unrepresentative group of offenders who have been caught and publicly labelled as ‘criminal’ because of stereotypes and explanations given by social control agencies
What does the labelling theory seek to do?
the labelling theory seeks to explain why some people/acts are defined as criminal , whilst others carrying out similar acts are not.
What did Becker (1997) say about labelling?
when does an act become deviant?
quotation
what are agencies such as police/media?
what did Becker mean by selective law enforcement?
Becker (1997) argued an act only becomes deviant when others define it as such and whether this criminal label is applied depends on societal reaction
‘applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders’
Becker suggested agencies such as the police and the media are moral entrepreneurs, as they have power/resources to impose their definitions of deviance
Selective law enforcement means action is not necessarily dependent on the offence, more so the stereotypes held about that person/group- Becker suggested the police operate with preconceived ideas regarding what constitutes as ‘trouble’
Cicourel (1976)
uses a phenomenological approach to understand how law-enforces make sense of and interpret what they see
argued stereotypes decide whether the criminal label is attached , this leads to the social construction of crime stats
study on juvenille delinquency- crime constantly higher in working class than middle class areas, argued this was because police viewed behaviour differently even when partaking in same behaviours
Cicourel’s research suggests we need to look at choices made by police over where they patrol and who they regard with suspicion and charge.
Lemert (1972)
distinguished the difference between primary deviance , deviance that has not been publicly labelled , and secondary deviance, deviance that follows once a person has been publicly labelled.
attachment of the deviant label may affect individuals self concept, behaviours and future actions
once a person is found out, the label of ‘deviant’ is attached. this label can become a master status, overriding all their other characteristics - other individuals respond to this person in terms of their master status
self-fulfilling prophecy
Becker suggests labelling and societal reaction can lead to self fulfilling prophecy
institutions like prisons help make labels stick, creating ‘outsiders’ , this means the individual continues to act in the way they have been labelled
labelling may lead to further deviance , closing off legitimate opportunities
Becker suggests labelling and societal reaction produces more deviance than it prevents
Young (1971)- participant observation of hippie marijuana users in Notting Hill demonstrated labelling by the media generates more deviance than it condemns.
evaluate labelling theory
+challenges idea that deviants are different from ‘normal’ people
-removes blame away from deviant
-labelling doesn’t always lead to self-fulfilling prophecy , societal reaction may reduce future deviance
-doesn’t explain why there are different reactions, or where the stereotypes came from
-ignored impact of wider structural factors creating deviance, assumes it is all down to societal reaction
