Interactionism

Question 1

What kind of approach do interactionists take?

Answer 1

Labelling =

ask how and why some people get labelled as deviant, and the effect this has on them.

Question 2

What labelling theorists are there?

Answer 2

1. Becker.
2. Cicourel.
3. Lemert.
4. Young.
5. Stanley Cohen.
6. Braithewaite.

Question 3

How do interactionists describe deviance?

Answer 3

Deviance isn’t the act itself, but a deviant is someone whom the label has been successfully applied.

Question 4

How is crime a social construct?

Answer 4

It’s socially constructed by how society sees an act as deviant, different societies see different acts as deviant.

• e.g. walking around naked =

it’s fine to be naked in the shower, but deviant if you are naked in public, however, some places allow you to be naked on a beach and some places don’t.

Question 5

How important are moral crusaders in labelling people?

Answer 5

Moral crusaders redefine whether an act is acceptable, making crime a social construct; leading to some people becoming ‘outsiders’ from labelling (marginalised).

Question 6

Why are some social groups more likely to be labelled than others?

Answer 6

Some people are more likely to be labelled as deviant due to their social class, situation and interaction with social control agents (focus on face-to-face interactions).

Question 7

What evidence supports Becker’s view on who gets labelled?

Answer 7

Pilliavin and Briar (1964) =

police were more likely to arrest a youth who had poor appearance and based their decision to arrest on gender, ethnicity, social class, the time and place.

Question 8

What does Cicourel focus on?

Answer 8

1) . Police’s typification.
2) . CJS bias in sentencing.
3) . Crime is negotiable.
4) . Truth about official statistics (dark figure of crime).

Question 9

What bias within justice is there, according to Cicourel?

Answer 9

1. Police’s typification.

2. CJS bias in sentencing.

Question 10

What is typification?

Answer 10

The way police label the typical delinquent based on stereotypes, leads to more arrests and charging of w/c people as they fit police’s typification, confirming the stereotype.

Question 11

What bias within the CJS is there?

Answer 11

Probation officers =

stereotyped delinquents were from broken homes and assumed they would re-offend, so;

• They were more likely to be charged.
• They were more likely to receive custodial sentences to inhibit them re-offending.

Question 12

Evaluate Cicourel’s view about typification?

Answer 12

Marxists =

argue that interactionists fail to locate the origins of these labels in the unequal structure of capitalist society.

Question 13

What does Cicourel say about crime being negotiable?

Answer 13

w/c youths were more likely to be arrested and charged because;

1) They fit polices typification.
2) . m/c parents can negotiate how to ‘sorry’ they are on their behalf using neutralisation techniques.

Question 14

What is the dark figure of crime?

Answer 14

The difference between the official statistics and the ‘real’ rate of crime –> we don’t know how much crime goes undetected, unreported, and unrecorded.

Question 15

What does Cicourel argue that causes the dark figure of crime?

Answer 15

Bias causes official statistics to give an invalid picture of patterns of crime.

• So we can’t use them to show how much crime there actually is, only monitoring the actions of social control agents.

Question 16

Which interactionists focus on the effects of labelling?

Answer 16

1) . Lemert (primary + secondary deviance).
2) . Young (primary + secondary deviance).
3) . Stanley Cohen (deviance amplification spiral).
4) . Braitherwaite (reintegrative + disintegrative shaming).

Question 17

What does Lemert say primary deviance is?

Answer 17

A deviant act that hasn’t been publicly labelled - mostly go uncaught.

• Those that commit them don’t often see themselves as deviant.

Question 18

What does Lemert say secondary deviance is?

Answer 18

Societies reactions to acts labelled as deviant.

• This can result in; stigmatising, excluding and shaming those labelled.

Question 19

Evaluate Lemert’s theory on primary deviance?

Answer 19

He fails to explain why people commit primary deviance in the first place, before they are labelled.

Question 20

What does Lemert say the effects of secondary deviance is?

Answer 20

1. Master status =

others view them by their label, not their identity.

2. Self-fulfilling prophecy =

they may accept the label, confirming the prophecy.

3. Deviance career =

shared identity with other ‘outsiders’, may result in a deviant subculture.

Question 21

How does Young apply primary and secondary deviance to Notting Hill hippies>

Answer 21

Primary deviance =

drugs were used as a sense of identity - a part of their lifestyle, they didn’t see it as deviant.

Secondary deviance =

police persecuted them as deviants (societies reaction), they started to view themselves as ‘outsiders’.

Question 22

What effects of labelling did the Notting Hill hippies show?

Answer 22

1. Deviant career =

they identified with each other as more close-knit.

2. Self-fulfilling prophecy =

used more drugs, gaining more attention and ultimately fulfilling the prophecy as drugs became a central activity.

3. Deviance amplification =

Police tried to control the situation, but made it worse, agents of social control aimed to produce law-abiding behaviour but produced the opposite.

Question 23

Evaluate interactionists view on self-fulfilling prophecies?

Answer 23

Too deterministic =

they assume that once labelled, a self-fulfilling prophecy is inevitable. Although the individual is always free to choose to not deviate further.

Question 24

How does Stanley Cohen describe a deviance amplification spiral?

Answer 24

Social control agents try to control deviance, which leads to more deviance, leading to a greater attempt to control, and so on.

Question 25

How does Stanley Cohen apply deviance amplification and moral panics to the ‘mods and rockers’?

Answer 25

1) . Moral panics =
- Moral entrepreneurs called for a ‘crackdown’.
- Media exaggerated and distorted the level of violence, so police arrested more youths.
- They became known as the ‘folk devils’, further marginalising the group.
2) . Deviance amplification =
- They felt more like ‘outsiders’ and the more police tried to control the situation, the more deviance increased.

Question 26

What does Braithewaite say reintegrative and disintegrative shaming is?

Answer 26

Disintegratve =

the crime and the criminal is labelled, resulting in becoming an ‘outsider’.

Reintegrative =

only the act is labelled –> avoids stigmatisation and allows the offender to get back into society.

Question 27

What are the positives of interactionism?

Answer 27

1). Crime records =

shows crime statistics record the activities of police, not criminals.

2) . Shows laws are socially constructed, they aren’t fixed.
3) . Shows the backfire of societies attempt to control deviance.

Question 28

What criticisms are there of interactionism?

Answer 28

1). Deterministic =

says a deviant career is inevitable after a label is imposed.

2) . Ignores the real victims of crime.
3) . Ignores that individuals may actively choose to be deviant.
4) . Implies that if a label doesn’t exist, deviant acts don’t either –> bout most deviants know they are deviating.