Interactionists explaining Youth Deviance Flashcards
What is the interactionist view on Youth Deviance?
Deviance is a social construct, mainstream society defines certain behaviour as deviant and identifies who are the deviants.
Young working-class males are labeled by the public, police, and media.
BECKER ‘LABELLING AND THE SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY’
Labeling related to the power some individuals in society have on making labels permanently on others.
The self-fulfilling prophecy is when a labeled person lives up to the label given to them and proves the label right.
CIROUCEL ‘JUVENILE JUSTICE’
Stage 1: The police stop and interrogate people based on their behaviour.
Stage 2: The police arrest people based on their appearance and mannerism.
Stage 3: The probation officer has pictures of the ‘typical delinquent’ and sees’s if the suspect matches. It relates to social class. Rude and aggressive behaviour = more police trouble. Polite and apologetic behaviour = more police trouble.
EVALUATION OF THE INTERACTIONISTS VIEW ON YOUTH DEVIANCE
Using labeling and the self-fulfilling prophecy assumes the label comes first and they don’t explain why some people actually commit the deviant acts before they’ve been labeled.
