Interactionism & Labelling

Question 1

What do interactionists argue?

Answer 1

People don’t become criminals because of their social backgrounds but rather because of labelling by authorities. So they see crime as the product of micro level interactions between certain individuals and the police rather than the result of external social forces such as socialisation or blocked opportunity structures.

Question 2

How does crime happen according to interactionists?

Answer 2

Agents of social control label the powerless as deviant and criminal based on stereotypical assumptions, creating affects such as the self fulfilling prophecy and deviance amplification.

Question 3

What did Piliavin and Briae found out?

Answer 3

Police’s decision to arrest were based on stereotypes about a persons:
-manner
-class
-ethnicity

Question 4

What did Cicourel find out?

Answer 4

Police uses typifications of the ‘typical delinquents’ working class and ethnic minority groups are more likely to fit the typification and be stopped, arrested and charged. When middle class youth were arrested, he’d was less likely to be charged. I

Question 5

Who came up with the self fulfilling prophecy and what did he say?

Answer 5

Lemert said labelling causes crime and deviance.

Question 6

What did Lemert develop?

Answer 6

The concepts of primary and secondary deviance to emphasise the fact that everyone engages in deviant acts but only some people are caught being deviant and labelled as deviant.

Question 7

What is meant by primary and secondary deviance?

Answer 7

-primary deviance: deviant acts that haven’t been publicly labelled as criminal
-secondary deviance: is deviant individuals that are labelled, people may only see him according to his master status.

Question 8

What happens as a result of the label?

Answer 8

Offender may be rejected by society and forced into the company of the other criminals, joining deviant subcultures.