Interactionist Theory Flashcards
What is interactionist theory centered on?
interchanges between people and the meanings of these interchanges
what are the three basic premises of symbolic interactionism
- people act according to objects in their lives and the meanings those objects have for them
- these meanings emerge from interactions among people
- meanings are applied and occasionally modified
What is symbolic interactionism?
view that society is created through social interaction
3 elements of symbolic interactionism?
- constant communication with symbols (help understand what’s happening)
- symbols are the source of all meaning
- symbols are complex (diff meaning to diff people in diff contexts)
symbolic interactionism - different interactions on perspectives?
diff interactions produce different perspectives
- interactions and experiences are different, so the way we understand the world differs as well
how deviance was viewed before interactionist theories
- ignored the role of observers
- ignored the social construction of deviance
- created offences
- labelled some deviants
Who started interactionist theory and what did they do?
- George Herbert Mead
- changed deviance studies
interactionist: define deviance
process of SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
- created/developed by society
- constructed through cultural or social practice
- categories of deviance change: look at how ppl see + interpret crime & how that changes
symbolic interactionism view on deviance?
is a human creation
- exists once we give it a label of deviant/criminal
symbolic interactionism
- social construction emerges out of?
interaction - becomes real
affects subsequent events/behaviours (affect how ppl treat me + how I behave)
symbolic interactionism - focus on?
interpretation & communication
3 ways of thinking (theories in interactionist theory)
- central concept: deviant career
- labelling theory
- differential association theory
what is deviant career theory?
the passage of an individual through the stages of 1+ related deviant identities
- stages of personal involvement in criminal activity
what is labelling theory?
how the social response to initial acts of deviance can more a person toward a deviant identity and career
what is differential association theory?
how people learn to be criminals through interaction with other criminals and how they acquire a criminal identity
who proposed the deviant career?
Howard Becker
why is it called deviant CAREER?
because the stages/progression in deviance is the same as stages/progression in a career
deviant career: 3 stages of progression
- beginner
- occasional
- regular
what are career contingencies?
turning points that influence crime + deviance
- promotion in job: beaten by rival gang in crime
the deviant career
- how is deviance a label? (3 steps)
- interactionism centres on what happens to criminals once deviant activities commence
- some groups/individuals have power to force the deviant label on the less powerful
- acts are labelled deviant, not inherent quality to the act - so deviance is a label, not the act.
* label can influence course of lives*
the deviant career: 3 ways labelling may not be accurate + fair?
- some deviants escape public detection
- some have not deviated but are labelled (falsely accused, label sticks)
- label may be subject to negotiation btw ‘deviant’ and label-makers
examples of recent laws/policies that contribute to labelling individuals or groups stereotypically/unjustly
- terrorism laws: contribute to (-) stereotypes of Muslims
- criminalization of heroin + cannabis targeted Chinese + Mexican
- crack vs pure cocaine: dirty drug vs party drug. crack tends to be used my poorer ppl, harsher sentence
- tough on crime laws: focus on street crime, not white collar crime. target stigmatized, marginalized people.
deviant career: primary deviation
- early in career, the offender commits deviant acts infrequently, smaller acts
deviant career: secondary deviation
deviance becomes a way of life
- the individual has an affinity for the intended deviant act
labelling theory: defines primary + secondary deviance
1-ary: occassional rule breaking - occassionally getting caught, stealing, cannabis, not as serious
2-ary deviance: deviant lifestyle and identity
labeling theory: how to get from primary to secondary deviance?
Getting Caught
- if caught for minor + labelled, may move on to further deviance.
- label changes how ppl see us (-); opt for secondary deviance as defense against problems caused by label
what is a precondition of deviance?
willingness to engage in it
- weak commitment to conventional norms + identities
why young people drift?
drift between conventional + deviant behaviour because they have weak value commitment to deviance.
what is drift?
psychological state of weak normative attachment to either deviant or conventional ways
Matza believed young offenders are attached to what behaviours?
marginal, masculine, subterranean traditions.
what are moral rhetorics?
claims + assertions used to justify one’s deviant behaviour
- may be inconsistent, arbitrary. argue for their criminality but doesnt apply to others’
two types of moral rhetoric?
- rhetoric of egoism
2. instrumental rhetoric
what is rhetoric of egoism?
used by those who feel guilty about their deviant behaviour
- early offenders
- neutralize stigma against them.
what is instrumental rhetoric?
when the deviant claims they have power over those who generally have power over them.
- when powerful ppl have a weak moment.
- not wrong to de-fraud company bc they’re thieves for X reason.
two categories of people in the deviant career?
- agents of social control
2. moral entrepreneurs
what are the agents of social control?
those involved in maintaining law + order
- judge, police, neighbourhood watch
what are moral entrepreneurs?
individuals who define or advocate new rules and laws or different enforcement of the existing laws
3 goals of moral entrepreneurs?
- assert existence of situation involving human activity as a cause (threat - moral panic)
- define it as undesirable but amendable to correction
- stimulate public scrutiny of the situation
most influential factor in redefining deviance from 1 -> 2?
accusations of deviance.
- 2-ary: when behaviour has modified their ways of living; forces deviant to change lifestyle.
what is a master status?
core characteristic by which others identify a person
- deviance is a master status
consequences of deviance as a master status?
become outsider
- affects how others treat you
- pushed into margins of society
- act in ways that are consistent with identity
continuance commitment
awareness of the IMPOSSIBILITY of of CHOOSING NON-CRIMINAL IDENTITY because of penalties
two types of penalties (continuance commitment)
structural (from social structure)
personal (from person’s attitudes and sense of self)
what is the differential association theory
points out the importance of learning criminal behaviour, motives, attitudes, techniques
- importance of ties to deviant peers as major risk factor for criminal behaviour
Socialization into crime: Differential Association Theory
- LEARN to engage in crime
- through INTERACTION with others who learned criminal ways
- learning in SMALL, Face-t-face GROUPS
- learn: criminal technique, motives, attitudes, rationalizations
- attitude: DISREGARD FOR LEGAL CODE
- associate with those with the attitude, dont associate with those who dont
- assocations with criminals vs non-criminals vary in frequency, duration, priority, intensity
- learning crime es the same as other learning
- criminal behaviour is response to cultural needs + values as non-criminal behaviour
