Interactionist Theory Flashcards
What are the three points of symbolic interactionism?
- People act towards human and non-human entities based on what those things mean to them
- Meanings come from interactions with people
- As people interpret how the meanings they have assigned certain objects fit into different social situations. In this, meaning can be applied and modified
What are the two main concepts in the deviant career?
- Labelling: When a powerful group assigns a label to a person as deviant, which can then actually make them deviant. Moral rules have a role in this
- Career: The passing through of various stages of identity. This involves adjustments, contingencies, etc. like your ability to find employment
What is primary and secondary deviation?
Primary: This is someone who primarily deviates out of curiosity and identity exploration. Ya gotta be WILLING to engage in these acts.
- Drift: A weak adherence to conventional norms, where the more distant social consequences of their actions are not considered
- Moral Rhetorics: Justification for bad acts - typically a broad set of principles that you can pull on as is convenient
- Instrumental Rhetoric: used to emphasize power against their oppressors
Secondary Deviation:
Their master status is now “criminal”.
This person is officially rejected from non deviant groups, and is automatically more tied to other criminals. This is where continuous commitment comes in
1. It is easier to be deviant when your deviant friends teach you criminal ways to cope with your behaviour
2. The deviant will begin to rationalize their behaviour, indicating a need to separate from conventional norms
Describe the different types of moral entrepreneurs, and the effects they can have on deviants
Agents of social control are people who help to check deviant behaviour. This will range from citizens to policemen
- Moral entrepreneurs: Groups of ordinary citizens and lawmakers who take initiative to create and enforce the law
a) Rule Creators: often the “crusading reformer” Who is campaigning for change by finding a problem, deciding whose fault it is, and selecting information that will support their case, and they get the public to scrutinize the “issue” in the same way
b) Rule enforcers: Those who apply the rules to misbehaviour and justify those rules (police). It’s impossible to get every criminal, so the ones they do crack down on they justify with- Whether they feel the need to make an example of the person for justification
- How respectful the deviant is
- Can the situation be tangibly ‘fixed’
- If the deviant act is high on the list of priorities
Down sides:
- Overrepresentation of certain ethnic groups because moral entrepreneurs need someone to target
- Social reactions to deviants: Often ostracized, rejected, criminalized
Describe Career contingencies and commitment as they pertain to secondary deviation
Career Contingencies: Things that go along with a deviant, which are not necessarily a cause. Unintended events due to a change in the person’s environment e.g. they are suddenly evicted
Cohen’s contingencies:
1. Alter: Agent of social control, responds to ego
2. Ego: The deviant, responds to reactions of alter (The cycle goes on and on and on, in either positive or negative direction for the deviant
Continuance commitment: Intentional adherence to an identity, because other identities are unattractive or unavailable. Stresses the penalties of leaving this identity.
- Structural: How your community is built will keep you in your career
- Personal: Your Attitude and sense of self, your reputation
Reactions:
- Self-enhancing commitment: You see yourself better when you continue in crime. You’ve found a way to justify it through moral rhetorics.
- Self-degrading commitment: You don’t think you’re good enough for anything else, and that you’re stuck. This leads to alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide
*Commitment lasts until disillusionment occurs
How does one become socialized into crime? (Diff-Asso) What is the biggest contribution of differential association theory?
- Criminal identity: the social category imposed on a person which shape their social interactions (master status)
- The 9 propositions of differential associations
People 1. Learn crime (4. criminal techniques) 2. through interactions with other criminals which are 3. face to face. 5. The first thing they learn is disrespect for the criminal code - Relationships vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity
- Same as all kinds of learning
- Exclusive interaction with criminals
- Criminal behaviour is a response to the same cultural values as anyone
It highlights the important of ties to deviant peers during our criminal career. Gang membership is a BIG THING
What is symbolic interactionism?
Takes into account the meanings and reasons behind criminal situations
- Expressive reasons: The sheer thrill and enjoyment
- Instrumental reasons: To garner money and status
* The SPECIFIC crime and method will vary based on possible consequences and societal reactions
What are the criticisms of interactionist theory?
- The Neo-Marxist Critique: It is micro-level, doesn’t relate crime to larger political, economic contexts and doesn’t use classes
- The Empiricist critique:
a) It only examines labelled deviants, those who have been convicted. Religious fanatics and other deviants should also be included
b) Empiricists claim that a label is seen as a cause, but it’s ACTUALLY a career contingency
c) Lacks testable, quantitative propositions. Interactionists disagree, says qualitative is just as valuable and addresses interactions more fully - Ethno-methodological critique:
a) Phenomenology: The study of how we perceive and understand reality. They claim that interactionists reject the question “how do people make sense of the world”?
b) E-M Perspective: deviance is not independent of socially constructed scenarios. Labels are created through 3 key processes: Interpretation, typification, and negotiation, which leads to categorization. Interactionism forgets how convention classifies moral offences
What are the implications of interactionist theory?
- It’s a unique perspective on deviance e.g. how moral enterprise affect criminal law
- Stresses the damaging effects of a deviant label
a) Makes reentry into the community problematic, because non deviants don’t want to ruin their reputation by associating with former deviants
b) Labels make us stereotype the labelled people - Deviant career: The process that helps us to explain deviance BEYOND its causes, and how it can be prevented by being involved in school and a good peer group
