Sociology - Crime And Deviance - Interactionism And Labelling Theory

Front 1

What do labelling theorists argue about about crime and deviance?

Back 1

No act is inherently criminal or deviant in itself. It only comes to be so when others label it as such.

Front 2

Who is a deviant according to Becker?

Back 2

Someone to whom the label has been successfully applied, and deviant behaviour is simply behaviour that people label as such. Leading labelling theorists to look at how and why rules are made.

Front 3

Who are moral entrepreneurs according to Becker?

Back 3

People who lead a moral crusade to change the law.

Front 4

According to Becker what 2 effects do new laws have?

Back 4

- creation of a new group of outsiders who break the rule

- creation or expansion of a social control agency (police, courts) to enforce the rule and impose labels on offenders.

Front 5

According to Becker, why may social control agencies campaign for a change in the law?

Back 5

New laws may be created due to efforts of powerful individuals and groups to redefine behaviour as unacceptable rather than because of its harmfulness of the behaviour.

Front 6

What 3 things do a person being arrested, charged and convicted depend on?

Back 6

- their interactions with agencies of social control

- their appearance, background and personal biography

- the situation and circumstances of the offence

Front 7

What does Cicourel argue about the negotiation of justice?

Back 7

Officers decisions are influenced by stereotypes about offenders. Officers' typification led to them focusing on certain types - w/c areas and people fitted police typifications more closely.

Sees justice as negotiable as when a m/c youth was arrested he is less likely to be charged as doesn't fit police idea of typical delinquent.

Front 8

What does Cicourel argue about crime statistics?

Back 8

They don't give a valid picture and can't be used as a resource. Should be treated as a topic for sociologists to investigate. This will shed light on activities of social control agencies and how they label certain types as criminal.

Front 9

What do interactionists argue about official crime statistics?

Back 9

They're socially constructed. At each stage of criminal justice system agencies of social control make decisions about whether to proceed to next stage depending on the label they attach to the suspect. This label is likely to be affected by typifications. Statistics only tell us about the activities of the police rather than amount of crime.

Front 10

What is the dark figure of crime?

Back 10

Difference between the official statistics and the real rate of crime as we don't know how much crime is undetected, unreported and unrecorded.

Front 11

What are alternative statistics?

Back 11

Victim surveys can be used to ask what crimes people have been victims to and self-report surveys gain already accurate picture of amount of crime. But people may forget, conceal or exaggerate.

Front 12

What do labelling theorists argue about the effects of labelling?

Back 12

By labelling certain people as criminal or deviant, society encourages them to become more so.

Front 13

What does Lemert argue primary deviance is?

Back 13

Deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled. He argues its pointless to seek the causes of it as its so widespread its unlikely to have single cause and its often to trivial and mostly goes uncaught. Primary deviants don't often see themselves as deviant.

Front 14

What does Lemert argue secondary deviance is?

Back 14

The result of societal reaction of labelling. Being caught and publicly labelled as a criminal can involve being stigmatised and shamed. This becomes his master status or controlling identity. Now seen as peadophile instead of father. Further deviance resulting from acting out label (self-fulfilling prohecy) is secondary deviance.

Front 15

According to Lemert what is a deviant career?

Back 15

Secondary deviance likely to provoke further hostile reactions from society leading to more deviance and a deviant career. May involve joining a deviant subculture that offers deviant career opportunities and role models and confirms his deviant identity.

Front 16

What did Young find in his study of hippy Marijuana users?

Back 16

Initially drugs were peripheral to the hippies lifestyle. Persecution and labelling by the control culture led them to see themselves as outsiders. They retreated into closed groups which developed into a deviant subculture. Drugs became a more central activity attracting more attention from police.

Front 17

What do Lemert and Young show about what creates secondary deviance?

Back 17

It's not the act itself but society's reaction to it that creates secondary deviance. The social control processes that are meant to produce law-abiding behaviour may have opposite effect.

Front 18

What is the deviance amplification spiral?

Back 18

Describes a process in which an attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in the level of deviance.

Front 19

What are folk devil's?

Back 19

Folk devils and their actions are over-labelled and over-exposed to public view and the attentions of the authorities. They draw resources away from crimes that make up the dark figure such as crimes of the powerful.

Front 20

What does Triplett find about labelling and criminal justice policy?

Back 20

Young offenders are increasingly seen as evil. The criminal justice system has re-labelled status offences such as truancy as more serious with harsher sentences. Leading to an increase in offending (Lemert secondary deviance).

Front 21

What do Triplett's findings suggest about the importance of labelling theory?

Back 21

Suggests that negative labelling pushes offenders towards a deviant career. So, we should make and enforce fewer rules for people to break to reduce deviance.

Front 22

What two types of negative labelling does Braithwaite identify?

Back 22

- Disintegrative shaming

- Reintegrative shaming

Front 23

What is disintegrative shaming?

Back 23

Where the crime and criminal are labelled as bad and the offender is excluded from society.

Front 24

What is reintegrative shaming?

Back 24

Labels the act as bad not the actor.

Front 25

How is reintegrative shaming positive?

Back 25

Avoids stigmatising offender as evil while making them aware of the negative impact of their actions upon others. Makes it easier for offender to be readmitted into society while avoiding pushing them towards secondary deviance. He argues crime rates tend to be lower where there is reintegrative shaming.

Front 26

What is Douglas' view on the meanings for suicide?

Back 26

Critical of use of official suicide statistics (and crime statistics) as are socially constructed and tell us about the activities of the people who construct them such as coroners (police). Relatives may feel guilty about failing to prevent death and push for misadventure. Must use qualitative methods such as analysis of suicide notes.

Front 27

What is Atkinsons view on official statistics?

Back 27

They are only a record of the labels coroners attach to deaths. Focuses on the taken-for-granted assumptions that coroners make when reaching verdicts. Their ideas about a typical suicide were important - hanging, recent bereavement.

Front 28

Give a criticism of Atkinson's view?

Back 28

If he's correct that all we can do is have interpretations of the social world rather than real facts. Then his account is no more than an interpretation.

Front 29

Why do interactionists reject official statistics on mental illness?

Back 29

They see them as socially constructed. Are simply a record of the activities of those such as psychiatrists with the power to attach labels such as schizophrenic.

Front 30

What did Lemert find out about how someone is labelled in his study of paranoia?

Back 30

Some don't fit into groups easily. Due to this primary deviance, others label person as odd and begin to exclude him. His negative response to this is start of secondary deviance and gives further reason for his exclusion. They may begin discussing how to deal with him, confirming his suspicions that people are conspiring against him. His reaction justifies their fears for his mental health leading to psychiatric intervention. Master status becomes mental patient.

Front 31

What does Goffmans study Asylums show about the effects of being admitted to a total institution?

Back 31

On admission, inmate has old identity symbolically killed off and replaced with inmate. This is done by degradation rituals such as confiscation of personal effects. Goffman notes that this is similar to other institutions like prisons.

Front 32

How does Braginski's study of long-term psychiatric patients show how some resist their situation?

Back 32

Inmates manipulated their symptoms to appear too unwell to be discharged but not sick enough to be confined to the ward. Achieving their goal of free movement around the hospital.

Front 33

Give 2 criticisms of labelling theory:

Back 33

- recognises the role of power in creating deviance but doesn't analyse source of this power. So, it focuses on middle range officials such as policemen who apply labels rather than capitalist class who make the rules (Marxist).

- implies that without labelling deviance wouldn't exist. Leads to strange conclusion that someone who commits a crime but isn't labelled hasnt deviated. Implies deviants are unaware they're deviant, most are aware they're going against social norms.