Interactionalism and labelling theory

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What type of theory is interactionalist or labeling theories?
Micro theory
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Since Mirco theories use unstructured interviews participant observations primarily what are they?
Small scale
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What do labeling theories look at instead of the causes of crime?
They ask how and why some people and actions to be labeled as criminal or deviant, and the effect of the label
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What do they believe deviance is because not at all times something is deviant?
socially constructed
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What does this also show?
Crime is relative
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What do interactionalists find out in terms of laws?
How and why they are made
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Who argues social groups create deviance by creating rules and applying them to particular people who they label as 'outsiders'?
Becker (1963)
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Thus, what makes does acts and people become deviant?
If they are labelled that way
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For Becker (1963) rather then the actual behavior causing laws, what does?
The powerful individuals and groups who re-define behavior as unacceptable
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Who is more likely to be labelled?
Labelling theorists look at how laws are applied and forced
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Since not everyone who commits an offense will be arrested, charged, and convicted what do labeling therorists investigate?
Agencies of social control like the police and courts because they label and determined crime and deviance
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Who found the example that officers' decisions to arrest youths were based on social cues like dress, gender, class, and ethnicity? Peanut butter
Pilivian and Briar (196400
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However, what does Becker argue about social groups creating rules and labelling people as outsiders? (phrase)
Deviance is in the eye of the beholder
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Typifications
Stereotypes
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Who argues that the police use typifications of the typical delinquent?
Cicourel
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What 3 things does he argue that those who fit the typifications are more likely to be?
stopped
arrested
charged
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Why does he say working-class and ethnic minorities are more likely to be arrested even if they did the same crime as M/C?
Because they fit police typification
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From their who are more likely to be charged because the thin they are more likely to re-offend?
Those from broken homes
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Who is less likely to be charged and fit the typification?
Middleclass
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What else made the middle class less likely to be charged?
Their parents could negotiate successfully on their behalf
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What 3 things were the middle class more likely to be given than charged?
counseling, a warning or realseased
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Thus, what does Cicourel demonstrate?
that Crime is socially constructed
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However, what do labeling theories fail to explain in terms of W/C being more likely to be labelled?
Why they are more likely to be labelled
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What do Marxists claim they focus too much on not the R/C who make the rules in the first place?
'Middle range of officials' (police)
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Are crime statistics socially constructed?(synoptic link with research methods)
Likely 4 or 6 marker
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How do interactionalist see crime stats that means the police do not give a valid picture of crime patterns?
That official crime stats are socially constructed
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Provide 2 things of there not being a valid (true and accurate) picture of crime (w/c)
Typifications and police patroling W/C areas
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Define the 'dark figure of crime'
crimes that aren't reported to the police
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Instead of Crime stats, what do interactionalists believe will provide a more true and accurate view of crime in society?
Victim surveys or self-report surveys
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Why might Self-report methods have no bias?
No researchers present (Hawthorne effect)
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What do the same questions being asked (closed ) make self-reports?
High in reliability, easily replicable
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How does no interviewer being present make self-reports and why?
Quick and cheap - because there is no one to train
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Why do self-reports have few ethical issues?
There is no reason for the responder to answer
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However, why might participants reduce the validity of self-reports?
They may lie, exaggerate or forget
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Why does the researcher creating the self-report be a weakness?
Because they choose the questions
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What may affect the representativeness and ability to make generalizations?
Low response rates
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The effects of Labelling
Labelling theories believe that by labelling people as criminal or deviant it encourages them to become more so
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Which sociologist distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance?
Lemert (1951)
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What does he descibe primary deviance as?
Deviant acts that have not been publically labelled
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What are the acts of primary meaning they mostly go uncaught?
Often tribal
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What do people who commit primary deviance see themselves as ?
Not deviant
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Provide an example of primary deviance?
fare dodging
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What does Lambert believe secondary deviance is due to?
Labelling (societal reaction) as criminal
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Thus, what does secondary deviance cause towards the individual?
Stigmatisation, shame bullying and exclusion from society
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What two this does labelling lead to (sociological terms)?
master status, self-fulfilling prophecy
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However, what does labelling theory fail to explain in the first place?
why crime is committed in the first place
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Why is labelling theory too deterministic ?
free will will not interpret the label or become devaint
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What do Labelling theorists imply about deviance?
without labelling deviance wouldn't exists
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What other thing do they imply (unaware)?
Most people are unaware they are deviant before being labelled
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Name the theory of secondary deviance and the deviant career
Young (1971)
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What group did he study in Notting Hill?
Hippy marijuana
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Before labelling what was the drug use in the hippies lifestyle?
fairly peripheral (marginal)
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What did the police and public label the hippies as that led to shame and exclusion from society?
Junkies
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Descibe how the 'junkie' label become SFP
They saw themselves as outsiders and retreated into a deviant subculture where drug culture became central to them
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Name two ways the hippies took the label further
Long hair and bizarre clothes
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Thus what did the hippie drug taking label become?
their master status
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What was the polices reation that led to reduced oppourtunties for employment?
they gave more arrests - drug charges
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Thus what did many of the deviants have to resort too?
potentially deviant careers
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Thus, what does young suggest the processes of control do?
The opposite of their purpose because they encourage more deviance
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However, what is Young too deterministic ?
Issues that once labelled all will SFP and deviate further which is not always the case
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What is the deviant amplification spiral ?
the process of trying to control deviance but it increases the level of deviance
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What theorist has the study of Folk Devils and Morel panics
Cohen (1972)
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What societal reaction did Cohen study?
Societies reaction to 'mods and Rockers' disturbances involving groups of youth at an English seaside town
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What led to a morel panic surrounding the Mods and rockers?
press exaggeration
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Thus, who called for a 'crack down' on the mods and rockers?
Morel entrepreneurs (public and politicians)
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How did the police and courts react to calls for a crack down?
They arrested more youths and imposed harsher penalities
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What did this respose provoke?
an upward spiral of deviance amplification and conformed the original media respose
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What did the public demonise the mods and rockers as that caused further bad behaviour and marginalisation?
'folk devils'
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However, what does Cohen not explain about the media and choosing the mods and rockers?
Why some groups are labelled as folk devils and others don't
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What thing fades away but Cohen doesn't explain why?
Why folk devils fade away and the application process ends
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Why is it hard to generalise from Cohen's study?
Mostly participant observation so small scale
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Is all Labelling negative?
Braithwaite (1989)
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What does Braithwaite (1989) identify in terms of Labelling?
Its positive role
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Why does he believe labelling is positive?
Because it causes reintegrative shaming
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What does reintegrative shaming help to avoid in terms of stigmatisation?
Helps to avoid people seeing the offender as evil
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What two things does Braithwaite believe reinterpreted shaming does? (inner self and other)
Helps the offender become aware of the negative impact of their actions on others and forces people to see the offender separate form the offence
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When reintegrating shaming is used as the dominant way of dealing with offenders what tends to be lower?
Crime rates
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In particular what crimes (give examples)?
reduction small minor crimes (shop lifting, graffiti)
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Recap evaluation
.....
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Why do realist believe labelling theorists ignore the real victims of crime?
because they over focus on the negative effects on the offender
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What do labelling theorists ingnore that individuals who choose deviance are passive victims?
That they don't actively choose victims
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What are most individuals that offend aware of ?
Most people are well aware they have broken social norms
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Mental illness and suicide
seen as deviant
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What do internationalists believe about official stats?
Aren't a valid measure of reported crime
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What do they argue we have to look rather than official stats of mental illness and suicide?
the meaning behind mental illness and suicide
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Suicide
....
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Who argues official stats aren't a valid measure of the meaning of suicide because they are socially constructed ?
Douglas (1967)
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Why does he believed this (labels)?
Because the labels are applied by the coroner and not the individuals decision to commit suicide
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What do coroners use to determine suicide label that doesn't get behind the true meaning of suicide?
use experiences and common sense rather than qualitative methods
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What qualitative methods could coroners use?
Unstructured interviews with family and friends, suicide notes
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What does Atkinson (1978) find about Coroners?
found that coroners ideas about a 'typical suicide' affected their verdict
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Mental illness
......
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Why do interactionists believe mental illness stats are a social construct? (labels and who)
because they are a record of psychiatrists who have the power to attach labels eg. paranoid
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Explain master status in terms of mental illness
Others will only see them In terms of the label of that mental illness
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Who believes the effect of labelling mental illness is that they and their behaviour and actions will only be seen as relative and as consequence of that label?
Rosenhan (1973)
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What did Rosenhal do to find out this theory?
Asked 8 researchers to be pseudo patients of schizophrenia in a mental health hospital where even though they should behave normally staff would treat them as mental ill
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What does Goffman (1961) argue about institutionalisation (such as in a psychiatric hospital)?
that it results in individuals identity being symbolically 'killed off' and replaced by a new one 'the inmate'
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Provide an example of why someones identity may be killed off in a psychiatric hospital?
confiscation of personal effects
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Since Mirco theories use unstructured interviews participant observations primarily what are they?

Back

Small scale

Card 3

Front

What do labeling theories look at instead of the causes of crime?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What do they believe deviance is because not at all times something is deviant?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What does this also show?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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