Interactionalism and Labelling Theory

Labelling

The process of assigning a social label or identity to an individual or group based on their behaviour, characteristics, or perceived deviance, which can influence how they are treated and how they perceived themselves

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

When a person’s belief or expectations about a situation or individual lead them to behave in a way that causes those beliefs or expectations to come true

Primary Deviance

Initial and minor deviant acts that do not significantly affect a person’s self-concept or social identity

Secondary Deviance

Deviant behaviour that results from societal reactions, such as stigma and labelling, and becomes a central part of a person’s self-identity

Master Status

A dominant social identity or label that shapes how others perceive and interact with an individual, often overshadowing other aspects of their identity

Deviance Amplification Spiral

The process by which societal reactions, such as media attention or moral panic, exacerbate deviant behaviour and lead to increased social control measures

Folk Devil

A person or group, often sensationalised by the media, blamed for societal problems, and seen as a threat to social norms and values

Moral Panic

A widespread, exaggerated, and irrational fear or concern about a perceived threat to societal values, often fuelled by the media and leading to social reactions and interventions

Subcultures

Smaller groups within a society that share distinct norms, values, and behaviours that may deviate from mainstream culture

Moral Entrepreneurs

Individuals or groups who seek to shape or enforce societal norms and values by advocating for particular moral or social causes

Moral Crusade

An organisation and often high-profile campaign by moral entrepreneurs to promote or enforce specific moral values or beliefs within society

What does Becker’s Labelling Theory suggest?

Deviance is not something that is inherent in an act itself, but is created through the social process of labelling

• whether behaviour is seen as deviant depends on how others react to it

Becker’s Process of Labelling

• Initial Labelling

• Role engulfment

• Self-concept alteration

• Stereotype reinforcement

• Master Status

Initial Labelling - Becker’s Process of Labelling

Where an individual is first assigned a deviant label

Role Engulfment - Becker’s Process of Labelling

Where the individual begins to define themselves primarily through that label

Self-Concept Alteration - Becker’s Process of Labelling

Where the individual’s self-identity becomes heavily influenced by the label

Stereotype Reinforcement - Becker’s Process of Labelling

Where others increasingly view the individual through the lens of the label

Master Status - Becker’s Process of Labelling

Where the labelled individual internalises the label to such an extent that it dominates their self-perception and interactions with others

Becker - Moral Entrepreneurs

Individuals or groups who campaign to have certain behaviours defined as deviant and controlled by law or social rules

• typically powerful people

• push society to create new rules or enforce existing ones

Becker Examples - Moral Entrepreneurs

• Prohibition

• Criminalisation of marijuana use

Becker - Moral Crusade

Campaign led by moral entrepreneurs to change society’s norms or laws

Becker Aims for a Moral Crusade

Reinforce social rules by convincing the public that certain behaviours are wrong

• institution - created to police the new law

• campaigns often lead to new laws or stricter enforcement

• created ‘outsiders’

Criticisms of Becker’s Theory

• Too deterministic: idea of an inherent path toward continued deviance

• Overlooks individual agency and the potential for change: limited control over actions

What did Becker suggest about expectations within his Labelling Theory

Accepted that in some rare instances people can reject their label

• called this ‘deviance disavowing’

What does Cicourel suggest about the Typical Delinquent?

Police and other officials decide who is labelled as deviant

• these decisions are influenced by typification’s (stereotypes)

What is a Typification? (Cicourel)

General assumptions or common-sense ideas used to quickly judge people

What is an example of a police Typification? (Cicourel)

Young working-class males are more likely to commit crime

What happens as a result of police Typification? (Cicourel)

Police tend to stop, question, and arrest people who fit these typification’s more often

• biased and selective!

What does Cicourel suggest about official statistics?

Reflect biases of police - not true amount of deviance

• should not take statistics at ‘face value’

• tells more about police practices not the objective extent of crime

What does Cicourel suggest about Negotiation of Justice?

There is a subjectivity in the criminal justice system

• MC can negotiate with officals

Justice is not fixed

Why is the Negotiation of Justice negative for the WC?

WC typically fit into negative typification’s

• less chance to negotiate

• more likely to be officially labelled as criminals

Neo-Marxists criticism of Cicourel

Taylor, Watson and Young

• approach fails to explain where the meaning and stereotypes come from in the first place

• may explain day-to-day interaction but not useful in understanding the wider reasons for inequality

Which theory does Lemert develop?

The Labelling Theory

Primary Deviance (Lemert)

Initial rule breaking

• not publicly labelled

• doesn’t effect the persons identity

Secondary Deviance (Lemert)

After a person is labelled as deviant by society and is a response to negative labelling

• labels affect their self-identity and how others treat them

• began to see themselves as deviant - Further deviant behavior

Master Status (Lemert)

Deviance becomes a person’s master status - most important label that defines their identity

• other shadows other aspects of a person’s identity

Deviant Career (Lemert)

Long-term lifestyle

• moves through stages of deviance, influenced by societal reactions and labels

• leads to being apart of a deviant subculture or community

What does Cohen’s theory explore?

The dynamics of societal reactions to perceived deviant behaviour

How does Cohen describe Moral Panic?

Episodes where society becomes irrationally concerned about a particular group or issue often fuelled by media exaggeration

How does Cohen describe Deviancy Amplification?

The process whereby increased societal reactions, like media attention which attempt to control deviance lead to an escalation of deviant behaviour

What subculture does Cohen famously study?

Mods and Rockers - conflict between British youth subcultures

What happened to the Mods and Rockers when they experienced Media attention?

Public outrage over their clashes - ultimately leading to more confrontations

What does Cohen illustrate through his study of the Mods and Rockers?

How media and societal responses can magnify and exacerbate deviant behaviour through moral panic and deviancy amplification

How do McRobbie and Thornton’s study challenge Cohen’s theory of moral panics?

Media and public reactions to youth subcultures have become more diverse and fragmented

• moral panic may no longer have the same unifying and amplifying effect - cultural changes and increased media pluralism

What does Young illustrate in his study?

A deviance amplification spiral by examining how societal reactions to drug use intensify the problem

How did the media and law enforcement effect Young’s study: The Drug-Takers

Sensationalised drug issues - public become more alarmed

• heightened concern and led to stricter drug policies

Once the law enforcement became stricter, what did Young suggest happened to drug-users?

Drug-use as a central source of their identity due to the negative labelling and hostile societal reaction that followed the moral panic

• master status

How has Interactionalism has a massive impact on our understanding of crime and deviance?

• Insight on the social construction of crime and crime statistic

• Influence of the media

• looks at previously ignored areas (law enforcement - how they can make the situation worse)

What does Braithwaite argue in his theory about the distinction about Disintegrative and Reintegrative Shaming?

How society shames offenders can affect whether they can continue to commit deviant acts

• not all labelling has negative effects

How does Briathwaite define Disintegrative Shaming?

When the offender is publicly labelled and rejected by society

• shaming stigmatises the person

• doesn’t separate the deed from the doer - whole person is condemned - outsider

What does Briathwaite suggest that Disintegrative Shaming lead to?

Offender becomes furtherly alienated

• increases the chance of continued deviance or criminal behaviour

How does Briathwaite define Reintegrative Shaming?

Shaming that condemns the offence, but then accepts the offender back into society

• forgiveness and reintegration

What does Briathwaite suggest that Reintegrative Shaming lead to?

Labels the act as wrong but shows respect for the individual - allows the to repair their social bonds

Which Interactionalists consider how sociologists should conduct research into deviant behaviour?

• Jack Douglas

• Max Atkinson

What does Douglas argue about how suicide should be studied?

Exploring the means and definitions that individuals give to their actions

• official statistics are socially constructed

Why does Douglas suggest that suicide statistics are socially constructed?

Depends on how people label deaths and the cultural meanings around suicide

• e.g. Catholic Church = sinful

Statistics are therefore invalid and fail to reveal the individual meanings behind deaths

What did Douglas conclude to use instead of official statistics in studying suicide?

• Use of documents (suicide notes and diary entries)

• Un-structured interviews with family and friends

What does Atkinson argue about how suicide should be studied?

Interactional process

• involved when people talk about or report suicides

Why did Atkinson argue about that we should use the interactional processes to study suicide?

There was no way of finding the meanings behind individual suicides since those who committed suicide could not be interviewed

• all that can be studied are the way individuals make sense of deaths and come to label deaths as suicide

What did Atkinson study to about the understanding of suicide?

Coroners’ inquests - showed the way people present and define the death affects whether it is officially classified

What did both Douglas and Atkinson emphasis about suicide?

Suicide is not just an objective facts but a socially constructed event

• shaped by interaction, meaning, and interpretation

How is Douglas’ and Atkinson’s interactionalist approach helpful in understanding suicide?

Helps us understand suicide from the perspective of those involved, rather than just imposing outsider definitions

Highlights the Social Construction of Deviance

STRENGTH

• shows that no act is inherently deviant - only becomes this when society labels it as this

• e.g. Marijuana might be criminalised in one country but legal in another

Explains the Role of Power and Inequality

STRENGTH

• Becker & Cicourel highlight how the powerful are more likely to label the powerless as deviant

• explains why some groups are over-represented in crime

Provides insight into Negative Effects of Labelling

STRENGTH

• Lemert’s concept of primary and secondary deviance - explains how societal reaction can push people into deviant careers

• e.g. youth caught stealing: leads to exclusion from school and future employment - reinforcing deviant behaviour

Challenges Official Crime Statistics

STRENGTH

• suggests that crime stats reflect who gets caught and labelled - not who actually commits crime

• encourages more critical thinking about the reliability of official data

Fails to Explain the Origins of Deviance

LIMITATION

• Doesn’t explain why people commit deviant acts in the first place (primary deviance)

• only happens after they’re labelled

Deterministic Tendencies

LIMITATION

• overly deterministic - implying that everyone who is labelled will internalise the label

• This is not always the case! - downplays the ability of individuals to reject or resist labels

Limited Scope

LIMITATION

• focuses mainly on minor crimes

• ignores serious crimes like murder or sexual assault - where social reaction is often less ambiguous

Doesn’t Consider Broader Social Structures

LIMITATION

• pays less attention to structural causes of crime (poverty, inequality or socialisation - Marxist & Functionalist explanations)