Interactionist Theories

Question 1

Interactionist theories consider crime…

Answer 1

… to be a consequence of interpersonal relationships and of the meaning of those relationships.

Question 2

The deviant career is…

Answer 2

… the passage of an individual through the stages of one of more related deviant identities.

Question 3

Primary deviation:

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Secondary deviation:

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Drift:

Answer 5

A psychological state of weak normative attachment to either deviant or conventional ways.

Question 6

Turning points in the deviant career include:

Answer 6

Early interest in delinquent activities, interest in drugs, inability o find legitimate employment.

Question 7

What is one of the most important factors for delinquent youth?

Answer 7

The quest for honour among peers.

Question 8

What are moral rhetorics?

Answer 8

Claims and assertions that deviants make to justify their behaviour.

It is an important component of socialization into a deviant identity.

Question 9

An example of a moral rhetoric is?

Answer 9

Claims that they steal in response to the greed and immorality of shopkeepers whose prices are unfair.

Question 10

What is a stigma?

Answer 10

A personal characteristic that is negatively evaluated by others and thus distorts and discredits the public identity of the individual.

Question 11

Offenders see their deviant acts as…

Answer 11

Morally right. They always justify their behaviour for themselves.

Question 12

What are agents of social control?

Answer 12

Members of society who help check deviant behaviour.

E.g., police, judges, lawmakers, prison personnel, probation and parole officers, etc.

Question 13

Who are moral entrepreneurs?

Answer 13

Someone who defines new rules and laws, or who advocates stricter enforcement of existing laws.

Question 14

Empirical evidence is…

Answer 14

… Evidence as observed through the senses. It is the only form of scientifically acceptable evidence.

Question 15

Moral entrepreneurs often make claims that…

Answer 15

… are explained by quasi-theories and are not backed up by empirical evidence.

Question 16

Deviance is created by…

Answer 16

… society; we make laws, and it is when the laws are broken that we label someone as deviant.

Question 17

Watson and Wolf found that…

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Deviance becomes secondary when…

Answer 18

… individuals see that being deviant has modified their way of life.

Question 19

The most influential factor behind redefinition as deviant is?

Answer 19

Being accused as deviant.

Question 20

What is a master status?

Answer 20

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”

Question 21

Primary Deviance –> _______ ________ –> Secondary Deviance.

Answer 21

Societal reaction.

Question 22

Individuals who gain entrance to a deviant group often…

Answer 22

… learn how to cope with the problems associated with their deviance.

Question 23

Full fledged deviants are always part of a group. True/False?

Answer 23

False.

Question 24

What is a career contingency?

Answer 24

An unintended event, process, or situation that occurs by chance, beyond the control of the person pursuing the career.

Question 25

Movement through the career is affected by what?

Answer 25

The contingencies that the deviant encounters along the way.

Question 26

Continuance commitment is what?

Answer 26

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.”

Question 27

The two types of commitment are what?

Answer 27

Self-enhancing commitment and self-degrading commitment.

Question 28

What is self-enhancing commitment?

Answer 28

Commitment leading to a better opinion of oneself.

Question 29

What is self-degrading commitment?

Answer 29

Commitment leading to a poorer opinion of oneself.

Question 30

All deviant youths continue to become adult deviants. True/false?

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

What is the main tenet of differential association?

Answer 31

That criminal behaviour is learned from interactions with other deviants in a close, intimate group.

Question 32

Who is credited with differential association?

Answer 32

Edward Sutherland.

Question 33

What is the Neo-Marxist critique of Labelling Theory?

Answer 33

That it fails to address power differences and to relate deviance to society as a whole.

Question 34

What is the Empiricist critiques of Labelling Theory?

Answer 34

1. It is more concerned with official labels than unofficial labels.
2. Labelling as a cause of deviance is inadequately conceptualized.
3. Its theories are hard to test and not quantifiable.

Question 35

What are the rebuttals to Empiricist critiques?

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

What is the Ethnomethodologist critique?

Answer 36

Interactionists fail to address how people make sense of their social worlds.

Question 37

Does the Ethnomethodologist critique have merit?

Answer 37

Yes, to an extent, interactionists are guilty as charged.