Interactionist Theories Flashcards
Interactionist theories consider crime…
… to be a consequence of interpersonal relationships and of the meaning of those relationships.
The deviant career is…
… the passage of an individual through the stages of one of more related deviant identities.
Primary deviation:
Occurs when an individual commits deviant acts but fails to adopt a primary self-identity as deviant.
Produces little change in day to day behaviour.
Secondary deviation:
Occurs when an individual accepts the label of deviant. The result is adoption of a deviant self-identity that confirms and stabilizes the deviant lifestyle.
Drift:
A psychological state of weak normative attachment to either deviant or conventional ways.
Turning points in the deviant career include:
Early interest in delinquent activities, interest in drugs, inability o find legitimate employment.
What is one of the most important factors for delinquent youth?
The quest for honour among peers.
What are moral rhetorics?
Claims and assertions that deviants make to justify their behaviour.
It is an important component of socialization into a deviant identity.
An example of a moral rhetoric is?
Claims that they steal in response to the greed and immorality of shopkeepers whose prices are unfair.
What is a stigma?
A personal characteristic that is negatively evaluated by others and thus distorts and discredits the public identity of the individual.
Offenders see their deviant acts as…
Morally right. They always justify their behaviour for themselves.
What are agents of social control?
Members of society who help check deviant behaviour.
E.g., police, judges, lawmakers, prison personnel, probation and parole officers, etc.
Who are moral entrepreneurs?
Someone who defines new rules and laws, or who advocates stricter enforcement of existing laws.
Empirical evidence is…
… Evidence as observed through the senses. It is the only form of scientifically acceptable evidence.
Moral entrepreneurs often make claims that…
… are explained by quasi-theories and are not backed up by empirical evidence.
Deviance is created by…
… society; we make laws, and it is when the laws are broken that we label someone as deviant.
Watson and Wolf found that…
Motorcycle gangs had a mentality and background much different that that imputed to them by the general public.
Most had been married, some were vets, almost all of them finished high school, and they were not violent in most situations.
Deviance becomes secondary when…
… individuals see that being deviant has modified their way of life.
The most influential factor behind redefinition as deviant is?
Being accused as deviant.
What is a master status?
A status overriding all others in perceived importance. Whatever other personal or social qualities an individual possess, they are judged primarily by this one attribute.
E.g., “criminal”
Primary Deviance –> _______ ________ –> Secondary Deviance.
Societal reaction.
Individuals who gain entrance to a deviant group often…
… learn how to cope with the problems associated with their deviance.
Full fledged deviants are always part of a group. True/False?
False.
What is a career contingency?
An unintended event, process, or situation that occurs by chance, beyond the control of the person pursuing the career.
Movement through the career is affected by what?
The contingencies that the deviant encounters along the way.
Continuance commitment is what?
Adherence to a criminal or other identity arising from the unattractiveness or unavailability of alternate lifestyles.
“The awareness of the impossibility of choosing a different social identity because of the imminence of penalties involved in making the switch.”
The two types of commitment are what?
Self-enhancing commitment and self-degrading commitment.
What is self-enhancing commitment?
Commitment leading to a better opinion of oneself.
What is self-degrading commitment?
Commitment leading to a poorer opinion of oneself.
All deviant youths continue to become adult deviants. True/false?
False.
Almost all deviant youths mature out of their deviance and do not continue into adulthood. Adult deviants also tend to mature out of their deviance.
What is the main tenet of differential association?
That criminal behaviour is learned from interactions with other deviants in a close, intimate group.
Who is credited with differential association?
Edward Sutherland.
What is the Neo-Marxist critique of Labelling Theory?
That it fails to address power differences and to relate deviance to society as a whole.
What is the Empiricist critiques of Labelling Theory?
- It is more concerned with official labels than unofficial labels.
- Labelling as a cause of deviance is inadequately conceptualized.
- Its theories are hard to test and not quantifiable.
What are the rebuttals to Empiricist critiques?
The idea that labelling theory states that labels are the cause of deviance is a misunderstanding. Labels are a contingency of deviance, not the cause of it.
The idea that the ideas are hard to test, and are not quantifiable is rebutted by qualitative measures being better for measuring interactions.
What is the Ethnomethodologist critique?
Interactionists fail to address how people make sense of their social worlds.
Does the Ethnomethodologist critique have merit?
Yes, to an extent, interactionists are guilty as charged.
