Labelling and interactionism

Question 1

What does Becker argue about crime?

Answer 1

• argue that crime is not an objective reality (as positivists may claim) but socially constructed through laws created by powerful groups & their norms > these groups or individuals are able to define certain actions as deviant & label those who break the rules as outsiders (ME)
• suggests laws and definitions are not fixed

Question 2

What did Becker argue about the role of moral entrepreneurs (ME) and their effects?

Answer 2

• these are individuals or groups who campaign for laws based on their moral beliefs
  > as a result of these new laws a new group of deviants emerges (those who break the new law) and social control agencies (police & courts) who enforce these laws & label offenders
• E.g. Platt > argues juvenile delinquency was created by Victorian ME’s to protect young people leading to a new category of offenders

Question 3

Evaluation of the social construction of crimes

Answer 3

• assumes labelling is always harmful e.g. many individuals may reject labels & do not become more deviant after
• Right realists > present criminals as victims rather than individuals who make rational choices to commit crime > they should take responsibility rather than blaming society

Question 4

What did Cicourel find in his study of juvenile delinquency?

Answer 4

• that PO’s & other agents of social control have pre-existing ideas of what a typical delinquent looks like e.g. male, w/c & of an ethnic minority

Question 5

What did Ciourel find about justice?

Answer 5

• it is negotiable not fixed
• w/c youths were more likely to be to stopped, searched, arrested & charged thus labelled> decisions based on subjective judgements rather than objective evidence
• in comparison to m/c youths who could negotiate there way out of being labelled as criminals
• as parents were able to convince the police that their child was ‘just going through a phase’ & would not reoffend > as a result they were less likely to be charged
• reinforces social class divide in crime statistics > w/c commit more crime because they are more heavily policed =not true reflection

Question 6

Evaluation of Cicourel study

Answer 6

• does not explain why biases among police officers or other social control agencies exist > Marxists argue that these biases are not accidental but serve the interests of the ruling class by criminalizing the poor & diverting attention away from white collar & corporate crime
• deterministic

Question 7

What do labelling theorists argue about the effects of labelling?

Answer 7

• being labelled as deviant or criminal can lead to more deviance

Question 8

What does Lemert distinguish between?

Answer 8

• primary deviance > minor acts of rule breaking e.g. fare dodging which are often ignored & do not affect an individuals self concept > don’t see themselves as deviant
• Secondary deviance> occurs after a person is publicly labelled as deviant or criminal which results instigma, exclusion & rejection from society
• the label becomes their ‘master status’ & their deviant identity overrides other aspects of who they are e.g. instead of being seen as student, friend they are only seen as a ‘junkie’ > lead to an SFP accept label & commit more acts of deviance

Question 9

What is secondary deviance likely to lead to?

Answer 9

• deviant career, due to rejection & discrimination, labelled individuals may struggle to find work & integrate into society
• they thus turn to deviant subcultures (e.g. criminal SC as identified by Cloward & Ohlin) where deviance is accepted & rewarded reinforcing their criminal identity

Question 10

Evaluation of Lemert

Answer 10

• deterministic
• realist > ignores real causes of crime e.g. poverty, poor socialisation etc & ignores victims
• Young’s study of drug users in Notting Hill supports this process, showing how labelling by police led to increased drug use by forcing users into a deviant subculture
• Braithwaite > found that societies who used reintegrative shaming (act is condemned but the person is still accepted) have lower crime rates than those who use disintegrative shaming (act is labeled bad, plus excluded)

Question 11

What was Cohens study on the Mods and Rockers and what did this lead to?

Answer 11

• showed how moral panics and the media can construct deviance
• Cohen’s study of the Mods & Rockers demonstrated how media exaggeration of youth violence led to increased police action & harsher penalties, which in turn escalated deviant behaviour> a process known as deviancy amplification spiral
• highlights how the media, acting as moral entrepreneurs, can define certain groups as “folk devils,” increasing public fear of crime & justifying tougher social control measured

Question 12

Evaluation of deviance amplification spiral

Answer 12

• evidence to support that harsher punishments increases crime e.g. Triplett found that re-labelling minor offences e.g truancy as crimes in the US pushed younger offenders into a deviant career
• can’t explain all crime > some crime occurs regardless of whether the offender is labelled e.g. white collar crime, domestic violence etc

Question 13

What two areas do interactionist focus on that may be considered as deviant?

Answer 13

• mental illness and suicide

Question 14

What does Douglas argue about suicide?

Answer 14

• rejects Durkheim’s use of OS as social facts and that they are socially constructed
  e.g. whether a death is labelled as suicide depends on interactions between coroners, relatives & other social actors
• suggests using qualitative methods like suicide notes to uncover the meanings behind suicides and allow us to get begin d the labels corners attach to deaths

Question 15

How does Atkinson argue similarly to Douglas?

Answer 15

• argues that suicide statistics reflect the labels coroners attach to deaths rather than objective facts e.g. they use common ideas of what a typical suicide is e.g. note left behind
• he argues this approach only leads to interpretations of reality rather than factual explanations

Question 16

How do interactionist view mental illness & what study supports this?

Answer 16

• interactions argue that mental illness is socially constructed through labelling processes rather than being an objective medical condition
• they suggest that once someone is labelled as “mentally ill,” their behaviour is interpreted in light of that label, reinforcing their deviant identity
• aligns with Goffman’s study of asylums > he found that psychiatric institutions often stripped individuals of their previous identities (mortification of the self) and forced them into roles as “mental patients”
• achieved through degradation rituals such as confiscation of personal effects

Question 17

Evaluation of interactionist perspective on mental illness & suicide

Answer 17

• deterministic > some individuals actively seek medical help for mental health issues meaning that not all diagnoses are imposed unwillingly
• even if suicides rely on interpretation of corners, they are still real patterns & cannot be dismissed as subjective
• Marxists > argue that mental illness is linked to capitalist exploitation & social oppression not just labelling