Interactionism and Labelling theory

Question 1

What do social action theorists argue about crime and deviance?

Answer 1

They argue that the vast majority of the population have broken the law and could be seen as criminals.

Question 2

How do social action theorists view official crime statistics?

Answer 2

They challenge these statistics, arguing that they are social constructs.

Question 3

What do labelling theorists focus on regarding crime?

Answer 3

They focus on how and why certain acts become labelled as criminal.

Question 4

According to labelling theorists, what makes an act deviant?

Answer 4

An act is considered deviant not by its nature, but by society’s reaction to it.

Question 5

What does Howard Becker argue about deviance?

Answer 5

He argues that social groups create deviance by creating rules and labelling certain people as outsiders.

Question 6

What are moral entrepreneurs according to Becker?

Answer 6

They are people who lead a moral crusade to change the law.

Question 7

What are the two effects of the moral crusade described by Becker?

Answer 7

1. Creation of a new group of outsiders or deviants.
2. Expansion of social control agencies to enforce the new rule.

Question 8

What example does Platt (1969) provide regarding labelling?

Answer 8

He argues that the idea of ‘juvenile delinquency’ was created by upper-class Victorian moral entrepreneurs.

Question 9

What did the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics campaign for in 1937?

Answer 9

They campaigned for the Marijuana Tax Act to outlaw marijuana use.

Question 10

What factors influence whether a person is punished for an offence?

Answer 10

1. Interactions with agencies of social control.
2. Appearance, background, and personal biography.
3. Situation and circumstances of the offence.

Question 11

What did Piliavin and Briar (1964) find about police arrest decisions?

Answer 11

They found that decisions were based on physical cues and influenced by gender, class, and ethnicity.

Question 12

What did Aaron Cicourel (1968) discover about police stereotypes?

Answer 12

He found that officers’ typifications led to a class bias in law enforcement.

Question 13

What is the concept of negotiation of justice according to Cicourel?

Answer 13

Justice is not fixed but negotiable, influenced by the background of the offender.

Question 14

What does Cicourel suggest about official crime statistics?

Answer 14

He argues that they do not provide a valid picture of crime patterns.

Question 15

How do interactionists view official crime statistics?

Answer 15

They see them as socially constructed, reflecting decisions made at various stages of the criminal justice system.

Question 16

What is the ‘dark figure of crime’?

Answer 16

It refers to the amount of crime that goes undetected, reported, and unrecorded.

Question 17

What are alternative statistics used by sociologists?

Answer 17

Victim surveys or self-report studies to gain a more accurate view of crime.

Question 18

What is primary deviance according to Edwin Lemert (1951)?

Answer 18

Deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled.

Question 19

What is secondary deviance?

Answer 19

Deviance that results from societal reaction and labelling.

Question 20

What is a master status?

Answer 20

A label that becomes a controlling identity for an individual, overriding all others.

Question 21

What is the deviant career?

Answer 21

A path that individuals may follow after being labelled, often leading to further deviance.

Question 22

What is deviance amplification?

Answer 22

A process where attempts to control deviance lead to an increase in deviance.

Question 23

What did Stanley Cohen (1972) study regarding moral panics?

Answer 23

He studied the societal reaction to the ‘mods and rockers’ disturbances.

Question 24

What is the difference between disintegrative and reintegrative shaming?

Answer 24

Disintegrative shaming labels the criminal as bad, while reintegrative shaming labels the act but not the actor.

Question 25

What is the labelling model of mental illness?

Answer 25

It focuses on how doctors label individuals as mentally ill and the consequences of that labelling.

Question 26

What do Thomas Szasz and Thomas Scheff argue about mental illness?

Answer 26

They argue that mental illness is a convenient label for explaining strange behavior.

Question 27

What happens once a person is labelled as mentally ill?

Answer 27

They may be treated differently and face stigma from society.

Question 28

What do Szasz and Scheff argue about mental illness?

Answer 28

They argue that labeling people as mentally ill is stigmatization and that psychiatric terms are used to control people.

Question 29

What is the effect of labeling someone as mentally ill?

Answer 29

It creates a stigma, leading others to treat them differently and interpret their actions as symptoms of mental illness.

Question 30

What does Lemert's (1962) study of paranoia illustrate?

Answer 30

It shows how primary deviance leads to labeling and exclusion, resulting in secondary deviance and further justification for psychiatric intervention.

Question 31

What is 'master status' in the context of mental illness?

Answer 31

It refers to how a label, such as 'mental patient', becomes the primary identity through which all actions are interpreted.

Question 32

What was the outcome of Rosenhan's (1973) pseudo-patient experiment?

Answer 32

Researchers were diagnosed as schizophrenic despite acting normally, illustrating the power of labels in psychiatric settings.

Question 33

What does Goffman's (1961) study of asylums reveal?

Answer 33

It reveals the process of 'mortification of the self' where an inmate's old identity is replaced by a new identity as 'inmate'.

Question 34

What did Braginski et al (1969) find in their study of long-term psychiatric patients?

Answer 34

They found that some inmates manipulated their symptoms to achieve free movement around the hospital.

Question 35

What is Jack Douglas's (1967) interactionist approach to suicide?

Answer 35

He critiques official suicide statistics, arguing they are socially constructed and do not reflect the true rate of suicide.

Question 36

What factors influence whether a death is labeled as suicide?

Answer 36

The interactions and negotiations between social actors like coroners, relatives, and friends can affect the labeling of a death.

Question 37

What does Atkinson argue about coroners' knowledge?

Answer 37

He argues that official statistics reflect the labels coroners attach to deaths and that their assumptions influence verdicts.

Question 38

What is a criticism of Atkinson's approach?

Answer 38

If all we have are interpretations of social reality, then his account lacks real facts about the actual number of suicides.

Question 39

What does labeling theory reveal about the law?

Answer 39

It shows that the law is not fixed and is often enforced in discriminatory ways, reflecting the activities of control agents.

Question 40

What is a deterministic implication of labeling theory?

Answer 40

It implies that once someone is labeled as deviant, a deviant career is inevitable.

Question 41

What is a criticism regarding the focus of labeling theory?

Answer 41

It tends to focus on less serious crimes, such as drug-taking, and ignores the real victims of crime.

Question 42

What strange conclusion does labeling theory imply about crime?

Answer 42

It suggests that without labeling, deviance would not exist, implying that unlabelled individuals are unaware of their deviance.