Theories : Interactionalism

Question 1

Lemert (1951)

Answer 1

Identified primary and secondary deviance. Primary deviance is the action and its consequences but secondary deviance is the social response

Question 2

Beker (1963)

Answer 2

Claimed that acts only become deviant when others label them as such.

No act is inherently deviant

Labelling

Question 3

Stan Cohen (1972)

Answer 3

Was working within an interactionist framework in his discussion of the deviance implication spiral, in which press exaggeration and distorted reporting of events led to the formation of folk devils and moral panics ‘mods and rockers’

Question 4

Piliavin and Briar (1964)

Answer 4

Found that police decisions to arrest a youth were mainly based on physical cues

Question 5

Cicourel (1968)

Answer 5

Officers typifications influenced their decision to arrest

Justice is not fixed but negotiable

MC youth less likely to be charged

Question 6

Young (1971)

Answer 6

Uses Lemert’s concept of secondary deviance

In his study of hippie marijuana users in Notting Hill

Found that media amplified deviance generating a self-fulfilling prophecy where the group developed a deviant dubculture

Question 7

Downes and Rock (2003)

Answer 7

We can’t predict whether someone who has been labelled will follow a deviant career because they are always free to choose not to deviate further

Question 8

Triplett (2000)

Answer 8

Notes an increasing tendency to see young offenders as evil and to be less tolerant of minor deviance

Question 9

Hall (1979)

Answer 9

Explored the racist nature of media coverage moral panics around mugging

Question 10

Ditton and Duffy (1983)

Answer 10

Much media reporting of crime focuses on violence but these make up about 3% of the crimes reported to the police.

Question 11

Felson (1996)

Answer 11

Uses the term dramatic fallacy to describe the way in which the media present a series of false beliefs about crime and the solutions to crime in order to entertain rater than present realism

Question 12

Blumer (1969)

Answer 12

Society is created by how humans act together -> people make society, not society making people
Therefore meanings are not fixed -> what’s viewed as crime can differ

Question 13

Braithwaite

Answer 13

Distinguish between types of shaming:
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Reintegrative shaming - punishes them in a way that strengthens their bonds with society.
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Disintegrative shaming - punishment which isolates the individual and causes secondary deviance.

Question 14

Ackers (1975)

Answer 14

Suggests that individuals might simply choose to be deviant regardless of whether they have been labelled

Question 15

Taylor et al (1973)

Answer 15

Labelling theory is wrong in suggesting that deviance is created by the social groups who define acts as deviant

Some acts such as incest will always be regarded as deviant in our society