Unit 2 AC2.3 Interactionism Flashcards
What is Interactionism?
A perspective in which society is thought to be a product of the everyday social interactions between people.
What is an agent of social control?
Anyone who contributes to helping maintain societal control.
Examples of agents of social control
Law/police Media Education Family Peers
Who theorised the labelling theory?
Howard Becker
What does the labelling theory assume ?
Crime is socially constructed.The labels society give to deviant behaviour actually results in criminal behaviour because the deviant person starts living up to that label.
How is the labelling theory related to control?
Becker says that powerful groups in society decide on laws and create rules. They decide what counts as deviant or not and therefore allow us to label people who fail to conform as criminal
Who developed Primary and Secondary deviance?
Edwin Lemert
Overview of Lemert’s theory
Everyone engages in deviant acts but only some people are caught being deviant and get labelled as deviant
What is primary deviance?
The initial stage of defining deviant behaviour. Acts that have not (yet) been labelled as deviant/carried out by someone who normally conforms.
What is secondary deviance?
An act that has been labelled as deviant by society. The individual interprets their behaviour in light of the label where repeated deviance can occur.
How do agents of social control label?
Agents of social enforce the boundaries of what is considered normal behaviour. The media sensationalises.
Deviance amplification
The process where over-exaggeration causes people to join in and create more criminal activity.
Master status
How the individual sees their role in society.
deviant career
A deviant group in society.
What is the consequence of labelling?
Individual is publicly labelled as deviant which can lead to rejection from several social groups such as family.
This could encourage further deviance
How the behaviour is treated could encourage more deviance. E.g. Convicted criminals may find it hard to get a job.
A deviant career may emerge – when they join an organised deviant group. The individual accepts their deviant identity and takes on a criminal lifestyle.
The deviant label becomes a master status – this is how the individual sees their role in society which leads to the self-fulfilling prophecy – they live up to the deviant label.
