Interactionist perspective of C+D
- Created by: rianna
- Created on: 09-05-13 20:48
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- Interactionist perspective of C+D
- Believes that it is mistaken in sociologys fundamental assumption that law breakers are somehow different from the law abiding
- Derived from symbolic interactionism, suggesting most people commit deviant and criminal acts but only some people are caught
- Stress should be upon understanding the reaction to and the definition of deviance rather than on the causes of the initial act
- Howard Becker- Classic interactionist study
- no act is inherently deviant , only becomes deviant when people apply a label to it
- A deviant is someone who has the label has been successfully applied
- Social groups form deviant groups by living by their own rules, which go against rules of society, and label those who don't follow their rules as outsiders
- When a person is labeled as deviant , public respond to the individual according to the label, an individual sees themselves as the label
- Self-fulfilling prophecy, someone is labelled either negatively or positively and live up to that label
- Becker- the master status Becker argues that the person labelled as deviant will see themselves in terms of the label
- Mallinowski- A study of traditional culture on a pacific island
- Highlander killed himself after being publicly accused of incest, even though it was common, just not talked about in public
- Becker argues just because someone breaks a rule not everyone sees it as deviant
- People have to enforce rules, if the person is successfully labeled as deviant consequences follow
- The effects of labeling Lemert
- Primary deviance- deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled. Secondary deviance- deviant acts which result from being publicly labelled
- Inuits in Canada. Long problem of stuttering, failure to speak was humiliation, children became over anxious
- Lemert suggested, chronic stuttering is secondary deviance, parents actions is primary deviance
- Rejecting labels-Negotiability
- Reiss' study illustrates, young male prostitutes showed they only regarded it as work and still considered themselves as straight
- Cicourel- the negotiation of justice
- He argued that officers decisions to are arrest are influenced by their stereotypes of offenders
- Argues justice is not fixed but negotiable, when a middle class youth was arrested he was likely to be charged
- Creating rules- Becker moral entrepreneurs and moral crusades
- Laws are the reflection of people actively seeking to create and enforce laws (ME) either because it benefits them or benefits society
- MC- Cannabis was a growing menace in society, through a press campaign, bureau was successful in outlawing drug,
- Becker points out that the campaign was only successful because it played into values commonly held in US
- Criticisms
- No discussion of the nature and power and who has the power to define certain activities as deviant (marxist)
- labelling theorists claim to provide a voice for outsiders but tend to concentrate on marginally deviant groups
- Labelling the media and amplification
- Eg Stanley Cohen folk devils and moral panics
- Moral Panics- An outcry including the police, politicians, the media and the public about issue
- Deviance amplification-making crime or deviance appear worse than it is
- labelling theory has contributed to our understanding of the relationship between the media and crime
- McRobbie and Thornton argue moral panics are outdated
- Mallinowski- A study of traditional culture on a pacific island
- Highlander killed himself after being publicly accused of incest, even though it was common, just not talked about in public
- Becker argues just because someone breaks a rule not everyone sees it as deviant
- People have to enforce rules, if the person is successfully labeled as deviant consequences follow
- Reiss' study illustrates, young male prostitutes showed they only regarded it as work and still considered themselves as straight
- Labelling the media and amplification
- Eg Stanley Cohen folk devils and moral panics
- Moral Panics- An outcry including the police, politicians, the media and the public about issue
- Deviance amplification-making crime or deviance appear worse than it is
- labelling theory has contributed to our understanding of the relationship between the media and crime
- McRobbie and Thornton argue moral panics are outdated
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