unit 2 sociological theories of criminality - interactionism

Question 1

what is interactionism?

Answer 1

sees our interactions with eachother as based on meanings or labels. crime and criminals are social constructions

Question 2

what is labelling theory?

Answer 2

no act is deviant criminal in itself - it only becomes so when others label it as such

Question 3

what is differential enforcement?

Answer 3

social control agencies use typifications to label some groups as criminal more than others

Question 4

what is primary and secondary deviance?

Answer 4

lemert argues that labelling is a cause of crime. he explains this by distinguishing between primary and secondary deviance

Question 5

what is self fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 5

when an offender is labelled, society’s reaction pushes them into further deviance. they have lived up to their label

Question 6

what is the deviance amplification spiral?

Answer 6

an attempt to control deviance through a crackdown leads to it increasing rather than decreasing. this leads to greater attempts to control and even more deviance

Question 7

what is interactionism and crime statistics?

Answer 7

interactionists reject the use of statistics complied by the police because they believe they only measure what the police do (who they arrest) rather than what criminal ls do (how much crime there actually is)

Question 8

young: the hippies

Answer 8

a study in which police attention and labellinh led hippies to retreat into closed groups where drug use took over

Question 9

cohen: the mods and rockers

Answer 9

-

Question 10

what is it?

Answer 10

cohen uses the mods and rockers study to explain the amplification spiral

Question 11

media exaggeration

Answer 11

media exaggerates caused growing public concern

Question 12

what is moral entrepreneurs?

Answer 12

called for a crackdown leading to more arrests, and more concern

Question 13

negative labelling

Answer 13

negative labelling of mods and rockers as golk devils

Question 14

what are three strengths?

Answer 14

shows that the law is not a fixed set of rules but socially constructed, shifts focus onto how police create crime by applying labels - may explain why some groups are overrepresented in crime statistics, shows how attempts to control can create more deviance

Question 15

what are five limitations?

Answer 15

deterministic - assumes we have no choice but to live up to labels, gives offenders a victim status, fails to explain primary deviance, doesn’t say where power to apply a label comes from, fails to explain why labels are applied to some groups but not others