Interpretive and Critical Theories of Deviance Flashcards
Interpretive and Critical Theories of Deviance
1: These theories do not focus on the act of deviancy, but on the perceptions of the act, and reactions to it.
2: These theories argue that our perception of deviance is heavily influenced by people in power
3: Deviance is constructed through the social typing process
Interpretive Theories
1: Emphasizes on social interaction
2: Meanings, understandings, interpretations of what is deviant, and what is normal
Before Interactionist Theories
1: Ignored the role of observers
2: Creation of ‘offences’
3: How some were considered to be deviants
4: Ignored the social construction of deviance
Early Interactionist Theory: Mead’s “The I and the Me”
1: The active “I” exists on its own, independent of particular situations
2: The receptive “me” situated and responsive; composed by messages from others “me as a friend”, “me as a student”, etc
3: If you get lots of bad messages about the receptive “me”, the receptive me becomes weaker, and the active “I” becomes less assertive
What Can Individuals Do Under “The I and the Me” Situations?
1: Accept the situation
2: Attempt to change the messages by presenting a new image to the world
3: Challenge the reflection by questioning accuracy
Three Interpretive Theories
Symbolic Interactionism, Labelling Theories, Deviant Career
Symbolic Interactionism
1: Deviance is a human creation - deviance labels exist as a result of social interactions
2: Social construction emerges out of: Interaction = becomes “real”; affects subsequent events/behaviors
3: Focus on interpretation and communication
Symbolic Interactionism - Application
1: Role-taking - changing yourself to align with someone else’s views
2: Looking-glass self - look at yourself from the perspective of others
3: Significant others - “What would by friends/family say”
4: Generalized other - “What would ‘people’ say”
Labeling Theory
1: Interested in process of being labelled and consequences of that label
2: When people are labelled as “deviant,” they are treated differently; changes their self-identity; changes how they act
3: Predict future deviance if a person is labelled as deviant - This is as a response to the label’s stigma
Tannenbaum’s View of Labeling Theory
1: Tagging is identifying an act or behavior as deviant
2: Tagging leads to dramatization of evil; evil act -> evil person; identity becomes built around that label
Lemert’s View of Labeling Theory
1: Primary Deviance - occasional rule breaking
2: Secondary Deviance - deviant lifestyle and identity, accept their labels
Primary Deviance -> Getting Caught -> Secondary Deviance
Kitsuse’s View of Labeling Theory
1: Some deviants rebel against their labels
2: Attempt to re-affirm their self worth and lost social status
3: Tertiary Deviance - Actively protest their labels; reject the rejection
Becker’s View of Labeling Theory - Master Status
1: Deviance is a master status(core characteristic by which others identify a person) and people lean into it
2: A person with a deviant master status becomes an “outsider”
3: This affects how others treat you - push you into margin; you spend more time with other deviants; cycle continues
Goffman’s Spoiled Identity
1: We try to control the message that we convey to different audiences
2: If we have a deviant identity, no matter what we do, others will still perceive us as deviant - spoiled identity
3: Responding to a spoiled identity is equal to impression management
Sign Vehicles
1: Mechanisms used to present ourselves to others (social setting, appearance, manner of interacting)
2: Effect to control or influence other people’s perceptions:
Humor, Education, Defiance, Cowering, Passing
Deviant Career
1: We progress through deviance in the same way as we would progress through a career
2: Start small, and eventually grow, beginner to occasional to regular
3: Career contingencies: Turning points
Critical Theories
1: Theoretical and practical
2: Look at the relationship between human struggles for power (Theoretical)
3: Work towards social justice for society’s powerless (Practical)
Four Critical Theories
Conflict Theories, Power-Reflexive Theory, Feminist Theories, Postmodern Theories
Conflict Theories
1: Powerful groups makes the rules
2: Those rules are likely to benefit the powerful people at the cost of the less powerful
3: The powerful are less likely to break the rules, and the powerless are more likely to break the rules
4: Origins attributed to Karl Marx
Karl Marx - Views
1: Class struggles - the most important relationship in industrial society is between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat
2: The state represents the interests of those who own the means of production
3: Capitalism breeds egocentricity, greed, and predatory behavior but the worst crime of all is exploitation of workers
Karl Marx - Deviance
1: Society is not built on consensus
2: Definitions of deviance emerge from class conflict between powerful and powerless groups
3: Revolution: only way for change
Instrumental Marxism
1: Institutionalized social rules are created by the powerful to serve the powerful
2: Direct reflection of the interests of the ruling/capitalist class
3: Law is equated with class rule
Structural Marxism
1: State institutions function in the long-term interests of capitalism
2: Institutionalized social rules are created to protect capitalism
3: Bourgeoisie can be labelled as deviant
4: Many laws do not represent the immediate interests of the capitalist class
Pluralist Conflict Theory
1: Multiple-axis of inequality make up the structure of society
2: Based upon conflicts from economic, religious, ethnic, and political groups
