Interactionist Theories Flashcards
Reactions to commitment
Self-enhancing commitment: leading to a better opinion of oneself
&
Self-degrading commitment: leading to a poorer opinion of oneself
Claims making activities by moral entrepreneurs
- ) Assert existence of a particular condition, situation or state of affairs in which human action is implicated as a cause
- ) Define the asserted condition as offensive, harmful, undesirable or otherwise problematic to the society but nonetheless amenable to corrections by humans
- ) Stimulate public scrutiny of the condition as the claims makers see it
California’s 3 strikes law
Provides a double sentence for a second feeling conviction and a mandatory sentence of 25 to life for a third felony even if it was only minor (3rd strike now has to be serious or violent)
Principles of Differential association
- ) criminal behaviour is learned
- ) it is learned in interaction with others
- ) principal part of learning occurs within intimate personal groups
- ) learning includes techniques of committing the crime and the directions of motive and drives
- ) the direction of motives and drives is learned from definition of legal codes as favourable or unfavourable
- ) a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favourable to violation of law
- ) differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity
- ) crime is learned the same way as learning other behaviour
- ) criminal behaviour is an expression of the same cultural needs and values as non-criminal behaviour
Neo-Marxist critique
- theory fails to relate crime and deviance to the historical and contemporary political and economic context in which they occur, particularly to power difference
- overlook the division between the powerful and powerless, fail to go far enough in linking power to ideas like labelling, deviant career and agent of social control
- doesn’t happen in a social vacuum, there are actors
3 basic premises of Symbolic Interactionism
- ) People act towards objects in their lives according to the meanings of those objects to them (nothing intrinsic that states a universal meaning)
- ) The meanings of objects to individuals emerge from interactions with other people
- ) These meanings are applied and modified as individuals interpret particular situations (change in the context)
Interactionist theories
Consider come to be a consequence of interpersonal relationships and the meaning of those relationships
Labelling Theory (Lemert & Becker)
Primary deviance is infrequent deviance that involves little change in routine or lifestyle. Secondary deviance occurs when deviance becomes a way of life and a part of the deviants self image
Sutherland and Differential association
Crime and delinquency are primarilyf learned in interaction associated with others in small face to face groups. This involves learning the techniques of deviance and the justifications of deviant behaviour
Critique of labelling theory
Neo-Marxist: theory fails to relate crime and deviance to the historical and contemporary political and economic context in which they occur particularly to power difference.
Empiricist: labelling theory is concerned more with official labels rather than unofficial ones
Labelling as a cause of deviance is inadequately conceptualized
Difficult to test
Ethno-methodological: claims tha labelling theorists neglect the question of how people make sense of their social world
Ought to be understood from the perspective of the individual that is involved
Accused of ignoring the ways in which the conventional world identifies and classifies morally offensive individuals and their behaviour
Policy implications of labelling theory
Reduce amount of official labelling (damaging) through: diversion, decriminalization, encouragement towards conventional interests
