Week Nine Flashcards
What is societal reaction and labelling
This perspective has traditionally pursued three interrelated concerns:
Social- historical development of deviant labels
Application of such labels to certain people or groups in specific times and places
The symbolic and material consequences of the labelling process
What are the origins of the societal reaction perspective
Emerged in the 1950/60s both as a teosinte o structural functional analyses of crime and deviance, and later in relation to the radical social changes of the late 1960s. Whereas the structural functional approach emphasised various functions of come and deviance, labelling theory represented a shift towards the study of the effects of negative labels such a trouble maker or drug user
Drawing from the symbolic interactionist theories of American sociologist Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbet Mead early proponents of labelling theory argued that crime and deviance are not fixed within ang given social order but rather conferred through social interactions. Labelling theory may then be considered a micro theoretical approach as it is concerned primarily with the effects and consequences of social interactions the use of social control in daily life and the manner by which people acquire and adopt negative labels
Origins of societal reaction perspective count
Tannebaum (1938) used the term tagging to describe in essence what SR theorists call labelling. Interests in how stigmas could work to push people but further realms of non conformity
Edwin Lemerts work social pathology usually cited as first definitive work on societal reactions or labelling to deviance
What was tannenbahms perspective on societal reaction
No more self defeating device could be discovered than the one society had developed in dealing with criminals it proclaims his career in such a loud and frantic forms that both he and the community accept the judgment as a fixed description. He becomes conscious of himself as a criminal and the community expects him to live up to his reputation and will not credit him if he does not live up to it
Explain symbolic interactionist
Term was coined by Herbert Blumer in 1969. Argued that there were three basic propositions:
- human beings act towards things in the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things
The meaning of such things is derived from or arises out of the social interaction that one has with others and the society
These meanings are handled in and modified through an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he or she encounters
What are some of the earlier sociological work societal reaction perspectives are dated to
George Herbet meads the psychology of punitive justice (1918): explored the power of labelling in its ability to set boundaries between insiders and outsiders
Meads essay focused on the power of labelling as a mean of conformity and cohesiveness and in this sense was similar to functionalism
His larger interest however was exploring the interactions ritual through which labels were applied
Explains meads ideas about the mind
The mind exists as an interactive process not as a structure
People use symbols to identify and designate objects
The mind inhibits inappropriate actions and selects proper courses of action (imaginative rehearsal)
Through processes people develop gestures of communication with common meanings and assist in communication of desired and wanted and courses of action
We perceive and interpret gestures with other humans with whom we must cooperate for survival
Meads view on the self
People represent themselves as an object as a basis for self assessment and evaluation
People derive an image of themselves as an object and this is how they develop their concept of self
Through role taking and via role taking we can assume perspectives of others
Society and its institutions represent the organised and patterned interactions among individuals
This society is not merely the interactions between individuals but the interplay of roles that emerge from the mind as it takes the roles of others; rehearsed interactions and alternative activities; makes decisions based on both actual and imagined social relations with others
Who was Charles H Cooley
1864-1929
Most well know for his concept of the looking glass self
Work is generally thought of as the beginning of SI
However there is a strong vein of organicism throughout his work and in some ways he agreed with those such as Durkheim and spencer that society was a thing unto itself.
Three main precepts: the self as a process, the self in communication, the self in interaction
Explain the self as a process/communication/interaction
Process: individuals see themselves as object like other objects
Communication: the self emerges out of and within communications with others; as individuals interact with each other they interpret each other’s actions and thereby see themselves from the viewpoint of others eg looking glass self
Interaction: the necessarily of the primary group; introduced the difference between primary and secondary groups
What is the looking glass self
The imaginations people have of one another are the solid facts of society
Three dimensions:
1. We imagine out appearance or image in the eyes of others
- We imagine some type of judgement of that appearance
- We experience some type of self feeling of pride or embarrassment in relation this image of ourselves
Cooley on the looking glass self
As we see our face figure and dress n the glass and are interested in them because they are outs and pleased it otherwise with them according as they do or do not answer what we should like them to be so in imagination we perceive in another’s kind some thought of out appearance manners aims deeds character friends and so on and are variously affected by it
What is the societal reaction perspective
Explains how sustained delinquent behaviour stems from destructive social interactions and encounters
Society creates deviance through a system of social control agencies that designate certain individuals as delinquent this stigmatising youth and encouraging them to accept this negative personal identity
What is beckers explanation of labelling theory
Social groups create deviance by making rules whose infractions constitute deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of the act a person commits but rather a consequence of the application of rules and sanctions to an offender. The deviant is one to whom the label has been applied; deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label
What are the assumptions of societal reaction.
Explains how criminal careers form based in destructive social interactions and encounters - interaction and interpretation are key. Behaviours that are considered criminal are highly subjective, crime is defined by those in power, not only are acts labelled so too are people
Both positive and negative labels involve subjective interpretation of behaviour
Explains society roles in creating deviance
Explains why some juvenile offenders do not become adult criminals
