Interactionist Theories Flashcards
What are interactionist theories?
Use of everyday forms of social interaction to explain society as a whole
Individuals act according to their interpretation of the meaning of their world
Peoples actions in a given situation can be understood only by first understanding the meaning they ascribe to that situation
(ex. their definition of the situation)
What are the 3 kinds of interactionist theories on crime?
- Labelling Theory
- Deviant Career
- Differential Association Theory
What was happening in the world when labelling theory was uprising?
1960s in the USA:
= initially, a period of optimism
THEN…
+ civil rights movement
+ Vietnam war
+ police brutality
+Watergate scandal
=> government legitimacy crisis
What are the two kinds of deviance in labelling theory that Edwin Lemert (1951) suggested?
What is the master status effect?
He believed that deviance label may result in deviance amplification
-
Primary Deviance:
-owing to deviant behaviour
-doesn’t necessarily impact our identity -
Secondary Deviance:
-owing to deviant identity
-self-fulfilling prophecy
- is a response to a government response
Ex. Stealing bc no one will hire me
Master status effect:
- one status that overides all the others
Ex. Pedophile —> find out that at end of blind date —> you would run away as this “overrides” other statuses
Who are the 2 labellers in labelling theory?
Individuals are labelled deviant by those with power to construct the label
-
Moral entrepreneurs:
-individuals who define or advocate new rules and laws or different enforcement of the existing laws
-involved in claims-making process -
Agents of social control:
-those involved in maintaining law and order
-police, judges, other CJS members & some ordinary citizens
Moral entrepreneurs construct “______-________” activities to convince people a threat exists
Why is this?
Claims-making activities
Want to assert the existence of a situation* involving *human activity as a cause
Want to define it as undesirable but amenable to correction
Want to stimulate public scrutiny of the situation:
= those* publicly labeled “deviant”* face some sort of community or societal reaction to their misdeeds
Ex. imprisonment, ostracism, fines, torture, surveillance, & ridicule stigma
Claim-makers use “____________” communication to persuade audiences of what?
Rhetorical communication
Persuade audiences of:
- compelling statistics
- link an emergent problem to problems already on the public agenda
- use emotionally compelling examples to typify the seriousness and character of the threat posed by the behaviour
What is differential labelling in terms of the book “The Saints & the Roughnecks Chambliss”?
Sat in a highschool for 2 years watching behaviour
Recorded that upper middle class kids that were engage in deviant activities:
= but were not labelled as bad
This was different for lower class kids:
= **more likely to be labelled as deviant **
Both groups did the same amount and type of crime
Saints = “boys being boys”
Roughnecks = even tho less deviant, but labeled as “criminal”
How did Rose and Clear extend labelling theory with coerced mobility theory?
Counterintuitive Finding:
- found that locking up community criminals does not make neighbourhood safer (despite this common perception)
Why?
= putting a drug dealer in jail that were making money off of it
= this also hurts the persons family (no income)
= doesn’t solve the problem = more people willing to do this anyways (sell drugs)
What is recidivism in Canada?
What group had the lowest rate of return back to prison/jail?
What group had the highest rate of return back to prison/jail?
Recidivism:
Q: if being label a criminal = makes people more criminal? How often people reoffend once released from jail?
- typically people come out beaten up and more criminally- minded than before going into prison/jail
24% and 56% of offenders on conditional release were revoked for any reason
80% of these revocations occurred within 1st year post-release
Non-Indigenous female offenders had lowest rate of return
Indigenous male offenders had the highest rate return
What are factors associated with revocation (chance that they may go back to prison/jail after coming out)
Unmet employment needs
Unmet community functioning needs
Age-(younger)
Poor attitude
Poor institutional adjustment
Substance abuse problems
What is the book “In The Words of the Offender” about by Peter Tadman?
Deviance is bigger than crime
From Alberta north of edm, grew up in poverish family, & parents had alcohol problems
Stole —> was arrested (Safeway)
Goes home —> determines parents can take care of them —> foster system
Gets into bad family —> abused —> finally believed him
Put him in good foster family
Ends up at ranch man’s —> falls in love —> was in heaven good relationship
One day brother shows up convinces him to do an armed robbery
Get caught —> put in jail —> buffs up and learns to protect himself
Linen truck driver (kidnaps the driver) —> drove to Calgary —> went back in jail
What is the deviant career according to Allen Jensen?
How is this related to the book “In The Words of the Offender” about by Peter Tadman?
Stages of personal involvement in criminal activity
Similar to an occupational career
Careers are influenced by contingencies:
= turning points encountered at each stage
= in the book you can see his progression in crimes (mediocre stealing —> kidnapping)
Contingencies refer to:
= unintended events that are beyond the individual’s control
= in the book this is related to how he was put in a bad foster care family (this was beyond his control)
The deviant career has what 4 aspects?
- A sense of continuity
- Perception of increasing opportunities
-
Increased sophistication:
Ex. In the book he went from stealing chocolate bar —> armed robbery —> kidnapping -
Recognition by peers:
Ex. In the book ppl in prison recognize he was dangerous cause he pushed back and stood up for himself “tough guy”
According to the deviant career…
People willing to engage in deviance have a “_____”
commitment to conventional norms and identities
Young people also have “_______” commitment to
deviance
Why is this?
Weak; little
Young people have little commitment to deviance, hence they drift b/w conventional and deviant behaviour:
= in the book he was quick to jump back into crime when he brother ask him to do robbery, even tho he was in a happy life position with a lot to lose
This youth crime career may be prolonged by early delinquency, drug use and no job
What are “moral rhetorics” in the deviant career?
What are “instrumental rhetorics” in the deviant career?
Moral rhetorics:
- claims and assertions used to justify one’s deviant behaviour
- used to neutralize the stigma (personal characteristic negatively valued by others) associated with deviance
LATER, young offenders use…
Instrumental rhetorics:
- emphasizes the practical use of language to receive a desired outcome (justify their act)
Ex. Persuading someone, or influencing someone’s beliefs
What are some techniques of neutralization in terms of crime (5)?
-
Denial of Responsibility:
-it was an accident
-it was because my parents don’t love me; I’m poor -
Denial of Injury:
-we both agreed to the fight; I was just borrowing the car -
Denial of Victim:
-vandalism fair against unfair teacher -
Condemning the Condemners:
-condemners are hypocrites; police are corrupt -
Appealing to a Higher Loyalty:
- I didn’t do it for myself; those oil companies are destroying
What is differential association theory?
People learn how to engage in crime
This learning comes about through** interaction with others who have already learned criminal ways**
The learning occurs in small, face-to-face groups
What is learned is:
- criminal technique, motives, attitudes, and rationalizations
One acquires this attitude by:
= ASSOCIATING WITH THOSE WHO HOLD IT AND NOT ASSOCIATING WITH THOSE WHO DONT
What is Charles Dickens “Oliver Twist” about?
How does it relate to differential association theory?
Story of a young orphan faces a tough life in a workhouse
He runs away and gets involved w/ a group of criminals
Despite being mistreated, he remains good-hearted
In the end he discovers his true identity = and is SAVED from the criminal life
In terms of DAT, he **only learns this criminal attitudes b/c of the people he became associated with **
