[2.0] The social construction of crime Flashcards Preview

Sociology - Crime and Deviance > [2.0] The social construction of crime > Flashcards

Flashcards in [2.0] The social construction of crime Deck (19)
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1
Q

What are labelling theorists interested in?

A

They are interested in how and why some acts come to be labelled as deviant and criminal in the first place.

2
Q

What is it that makes some acts deviant?

A

Society’s reaction to the acts.

3
Q

Who is a ‘deviant’ to Becker (1963)?

A

Someone whom the label of deviant has been successfully applied to.

4
Q

What is ‘deviant’ behaviour to Becker (1963)?

A

Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people label as deviant.

5
Q

What are moral entrepreneurs?

A

Those who lead a ‘moral crusade’ to change the law to benefit those to whom it is applied.

6
Q

What are the two effects of the work of moral entrepreneurs?

A

There is a creation of a new group of outsiders, and the creation or expansion of a social control agency to enforce the new rules.

7
Q

What does Platt (1969) argue that the idea of juvenile delinquency came from?

A

Upper class Victorian moral entrepreneurs, who were trying to protect people at risk of juvenile delinquency.

8
Q

Who else can campaign for a change in the law?

A

Social control agencies.

9
Q

Does everyone who commits an offence get labelled?

A

No.

10
Q

Whether a person is arrested, charged and convicted depends on which three factors?

A

Their previous interactions with social control agencies, their appearance and background, and the situations and circumstances of the offence.

11
Q

What are agencies of social control likely to do?

A

Label some groups as deviant or criminal but not others.

12
Q

What did Piliavin and Briar (1964) find out?

A

Police decisions to arrest a youth were based mainly on physical cues such as manner, dress, ethnicity and gender.

13
Q

Who are anti-social behaviour orders used disproportionately against?

A

Ethnic minorities.

14
Q

Cicourel (1968) found that officer’s typifications led them to concentrate on and arrest certain types of people. What are typifications?

A

Common-sense theories or stereotypes of what the delinquent is like.

15
Q

What kind of bias does law enforcement show?

A

A class bias.

16
Q

How did probation officers view juvenile delinquency, and how did this affect their treatment of young offenders?

A

They viewed juvenile delinquency as caused by broken homes and poverty, so they were less likely to advocate a non-custodial sentence for those who matched their typifications.

17
Q

How does Cicourel (1968) see justice?

A

As negotiable, not fixed.

18
Q

What does Cicourel (1968) argue in terms of official statistics?

A

They do not give us a valid picture of crime and therefore cannot be used as a resource to understand crime.

19
Q

How does Cicourel (1968) think official statistics should be used?

A

To investigate agencies of social control and discover how they process and label some people and actions as deviant and not others.