Interactionist theory of crime

Question 1

general interactionist explanation of why people commit crime

Answer 1

people have free will and behave in certain ways due to the belief they hold about the world
these beliefs are conscious, important to understand people’s thinking and behaviour

Question 2

primary and secondary deviance (Lemert)

Answer 2

Primary: deviant act committed but not defined or labelled as deviant
secondary: deviant act repeated and attract society’s attention. labels and stereotypes follow, self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 3

primary and secondary deviance (Lemert)- variability

Answer 3

labelling of criminal provokes different reactions with different people; eg teenage thief: parents angry but peers may congratulate them
socioeconomic factors such as age, gender and class has an effect

Question 4

3 evaluation points on lemert’s theory

Answer 4

(-) primary deviance isnt expanded on
(-)assumes solely labelling is responsible for defining a criminal
(+) Marxism: socio-economic factors