CRM 2302- Week Three Review

Symbolic Interaction rests on the notion that...

- Humans act towards things based on the meanings those things have for them

- Meanings of things arise out of social interaction

- Meanings are created and changed through a process of interpretation

How do the meaning of things arise out of social interaction?

- Human interaction mediated by use of symbols and by interpretations

- Humans act towards things based on the meanings those things have for them (rooted in the socialization process)

- Meanings created and change through proccess of interpretation (society change, different symbols gained via different interpretive meanings

What does the term symbolic interaction refer to (in the words of Blumer)?

The peculiar and distinstive character of ineraction as it takes place between human beings. The peculiarity consists in the fact that human beings interpret or "define" each others actions instead of merely reacting to each others actions. Their "response" is mode made directly to the actions of one another but instead is based on the meaning which they attach such actions. Thus, human interaction is mediated by the use of symbols, by interpretation, or by asscertaining the meaning of one another's actions

What does Social Constructionism challange?

The world view that conventional knowledge is objective, unbaised observation of the world

- questioning things like why women/men are more concentrated in certain job spheres

- Asking questions and knowledge of how do we know what we do

- Knowledges produced and then passed along which makes it true

- Epidemiology

What does Social Construction take a critcal stance towards?

Our taken for granted ways of understanding the world, including ourselves

Example: Man and woman cetegories that are bound up with gender- Normative notion of masculinity and femininity in a culture

(Gender as a construct- Man and women to mean more then just sex)

What does Social Constructionism argue?

That the "creation of knowledge is rooted in social interaction between people through common language and shared meanings in particular contexts"

(Believe if you focus on how soical interactions and where they rise, you can pull them apart)

Example: "Illegal Alien"

A word used to describe undocumneted immigrants

- 1929 the word alien used in legislation in Canada

- There is power in the language you use. Words used creates interpretation for people such as fear, protective, anger, dehumanizing, etc

- It's actually not illegal to flee a country to enter another one that is a safer place (A right given to everyone by the UN via international law)

How is language important?

It is crucial in the interactions and creation of meanings attached to events, places, people, situations, etc

Example: Politcal speeches establishing meaning to create a narrative

Where do the ongoing creation of meanings occur and why are they important?

They occur in political, historical, economic, social and cultural environment

They are important for the social construction of knowledge and reality

Example: Political parties using things like catchphrases to push their agendas- the same messages over and over to associate those words with the party and influence others

How does the construction of knowledge get communicated?

Via different channels such as

- Laws

- Media

- Public opinion

It serves as a source of legitmation and justification

Example: People going onto the news and talking/showing only horrible crimes and saying crime is on the rise

- Creates the idea that crime is an increasing issue and fear surrounding it

The constructed knowledges becomes reality which then makes it

The "truth"

Messages however are not neutral

The creation of certain facts about people can lead to the harm of others via established truths

In Labelling Theory Deviance is...

Not a quality of the act, but rather a consequence of application by others of rules and cancation to an "Offender"

(No act is deviant in of itself, but the act of labelling which makes it so)

How are people placed on the "outside" in Labelling Theory?

Because their particular behaviour has been labelled as so by more powerful interest groups

- Postivist thought everyone shared the same norms so those who went against it would be pushed out and considered an outsider

- Behaviours only deviant because its against the norms

Becker focused on people relegated to the margins of socitey and found that...

- Socitey has many groups, each with their own set of rules and people belonged to many groups simultaneosuly

- Society has different groups, each with its own set of values

- Outsiders were the outside labeled group

Becker approached deviance from an occupational sociology approach and considered who?

Both those who "occupation" was deemed deviant/criminal as well as those who occupations was catching criminals (social audience, criminal justice system)

- A focus on the CJS as a whole

What is the Labelling Process according to Becker?

Society creates deviance and "outsiders" such as:

- Social groups create deviance by making rules whose infraction constiutes deviance (society: creates deviance, is not homogenous but heterogeneous)

- By applying those rules to partucular people and labelling them as an outsider

(We uphold and apply those rules to those who do not abide by them)

- Deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an "offender"

(Application of the consequneces we set aside for people who break the rules- devinace)

-The devient is the one whom that label has successfully been applied

- Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label

- It is the repose that matter for without it, deviant behaviour has not occurred

(Response is what matters)

How are outsiders chosen and labelled?

Via the degree to which people react to a given act as deviant varies greatly

- Varation over time (Things like heightened social attention on an issue)

- Characteristics of individual doing the act

- Response to victimization of some rather then others

Deviance is not a quality that lies in the behaviour itself but in the interaction between the person who commits an act and those who response to it