Interactionism + labelling theory

The social construction of crime

Becker - An act is only deviant when others define it as such, so when someone applies a label they become a deviant.

Labelling research - Piliavin+ Briar

Police decisions to arrest a youth were mainly based on physical cues such as manner and dress, and its also based on gender, class and ethinicity, with time + place affecting it aswell e.g at night in an alleyway.

Cicourel:The negotiation of justice

Found offenders typifications(stereotypes of what the offender is like) results in law enforcement showing a class bias, focusing on W/C people. This is continued through CJS, probation officers held theory that offending caused by broken homes and poverty. Justice was negotiable, e.g M/C youth arrested less likely to be charged, as they didnt fit the typification, and had parents to negotiate.

The social construction of crime statistics

Agents of social control(such as police officers) can decide whether to continue to the next level which is based on the label they attach to the person. So they only tell us about the activites of police etc than actual crime. Commits to the dark figure(unreported, unrecorded crimes).

The effects of labelling: Primary + Secondary deviance Lemert

Primary - Deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled, so dont see themselves as deviant and therefore dont change self-concept.

Secondary - Deviant acts that publicly label the criminal and the act, resulting in public humiliation, becoming the master status meaning everyone only sees them this way, which can change self concept which may lead to SFP.

Deviant career - The hostility from the label and society causes ppl to commit more deviance, may involve joining a deviant subculture as they can’t adjust to real world, Young - hippies smoked marijuana, accepted in lifestyle(primary), but as police labelled individiuals and punished(secondary), and then they joined subcultures and smoked more.(deviant career).

Deviance amplification spiral

Process in which attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in the level of deviance, leading to greater attempt to control, producing higher deviance. Stanley Cohen - study of societal reaction to ‘mods and rockers’, press exaggerated the events, causing moral panic, public concerned and called for ‘crackdown’, so police arrested more youth, and courts imposed harsher penalties. And, demonising them as ‘folk devils’ further marginalised them. So contrasts dark figure as its over represented

Effects of labelling:Crimial justice policy

Studies show how an increase of attempts to control and punish young offenders has had an opposite effect of what. was intended. Triplett - increasing tendency to see young offenders as evil and be less tolerant of minor deviance. Means that neg label pushes ppl to deviant career.Re label offences such as truancy as worse, so give harsher sentences. So we should make fewer deviances, less for people to. break eg decriminalising soft drugs we might reduce the amount of people with criminal convictions and hence risk of secondary deviance.

Pos effects of labelling - Braithwaite:Shaming

Disintigrative shaming - Not only the crime but the criminal is labelled as bad and the offender is excluded from society.

Reintegrative shaming - Labels the act not the actor - ‘a bad thing’, not ‘a bad person’. Avoids stigmatising offender as evil, while making them aware of their impacts on others, and avoids pushing them into secondary deviance.

The sociology of suicide:Durkheim - Suicide

Studied suicide with the aim to show sociology is a science

The sociology of suicide:Douglas - the meaning of suicide

Interactionist, rejects the official statistics durkheim used as they are socially constructed, and tell us more about who construct them (police + coroners) and not the real rate of crime/suicide. e.g if death is labelled as suicide, relies on the interactions between social actors such as relatives, friends, police. Friends may feel guilty for not preventing the death, or coroner may be religious and see it as a sin so not label it as a suicide. So, statistics tell us little as to why someone comitted suicide, so must use qualitative methods.

The sociology of suicide:Atkinson - coroners’ commensense knowledge

Agrees that official statistics are a label coroners attach to deaths. Impossible to know what meanings the person gave to their deaths. So, their typical ideas about reaching a verdict was important, such as hanging and life history, which allowed for an automatic conclusion.

Neg effects of labelling:Goffman

Studied possible effects of being admitted to a psychiatric hospital, their old identity is ‘killed off’ and replaced by ‘inmate’, achieved by ‘degradation rituals’ such as confiscation of personal items. Also may internalise their identity and be unable to re-adjust to the outside world

Evaluation of labelling theory

Deterministic, stating that when someone is labelled they are destined to start a deviant career. Places offenders as the victims, based on the neg effects, ignoring the real victims of crime.