crime and deviance- interactionism and labelling theory

describe the social construction of crime- moral entrepreneurs

Labelling theorists think about how and why certain acts come to be defined as criminal.

They argue that no act is inherently criminal or deviant and instead only comes to be when others label it as such.

Becker argues that a deviant is someone whom the label has been successfully applied and deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label.

Labelling theorists are interested in what Becker calls moral entrepreneurs

Moral entrepreneurs- people who lead a moral campaign to change laws based on their own moral responsibility

what are the effects of labelling in crime and deviance

Becker argues this creates 2 effects

Creation of outsiders- outlaws or deviants who break the new rules

Expansion of a social control agency to enforce the rule and impose labels on offenders

Becker also notes that social control agencies also campaign for a change in the law to increase their own power.

what is juvenile delinquency

Platt argues that the idea of "juvenile delinquency" was originally created as a result of a campaign by upper class Victorian moral entrepreneurs, aimed at protecting young people at risk.

This established "juveniles" as a separate category of offender with their own courts and it enabled the state to extend its power beyond criminal offences involving the young, into "status offences"

what does labelling depend on

Whether a person is charged depends on

Their interactions with agencies of control

Their appearance, background, and personal biography

The situation and circumstances of the offence

This leads to labelling theorists to look at how the laws are applied and enforced and that agencies of social control are more likely to label certain groups of people as deviant

Piliavin and Briar found that police decisions to arrest a youth were mainly based on physical cues such as manners and dress, from which they made their judgments about the youth's character.

Officer's decisions were also influenced by the suspects gender, class ethnicity and time and place.

describe negotiation of justice

Found that officers' typifications/ stereotypes of what the typical delinquent is like- led them to concentrate on certain types

This resulted in law enforcement showing a class bias where w/c areas and people fitted the police typifications most closely.

This led to police patrolling w/c areas more intensively, resulting in more arrests and confirming their stereotypes

Also found that other agents of social control within the criminal justice system reinforced this bias. Eg probation officers held the stereotype that juvenile delinquency was caused by broken homes, poverty and lax parenting and tended to see youths from such backgrounds as likely to offend in the future- less likely to support non custodial sentences for them

In his view, justice isn't fixed but negotiable. Eg when a young m/c male was arrested he was less likely to be charged. Partly due to his background which didn't fit the police's typical delinquent but also his parents are more likely to negotiate successfully on his behalf. As a result he is typically just warned and released

describe crime stats- topic/resource

Therefore, Cicourel argues crime stats aren't valid to study patterns of crime and therefore can't be used as a resource (facts on crime)

Instead, stats should be used as a topic for sociologists to investigate the processes that created them which will highlight the activities of control agencies and how they process and label certain types of people as criminals.

describe interactionist view on the social construction of crime

· Interactionists see the official crime statistics as socially constructed- at each stage of the criminal justice system, agents of control decide whether to move on to the next stage.

· The outcome depends on the label they attach to the individual suspects or defendants in the time of their interaction.

· This label is likely to be affected by the typification they hold about them.

· As a result, the stats produced by the criminal justice system only tell us about the activities of the police and prosecutors, rather than the amount of crime in society and who commits it.

· The dark figure of crime- the difference between the official stats and the real rate of crime. We don't know for certain how much crime goes undetected, unreported and unrecorded

· Alternative stats- some sociologists use victim surveys or self-report studies to gain a more accurate view of the amount of crime. But these have limitations such as memory or exaggeration. Also, these surveys usually only have only a small amount of crime.

effects of labelling

primary and secondary deviance

describe primary deviance

lemert- Primary deviance refers to deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled.

Key features: Often trivial or common (e.g. fare dodging, petty theft, drug use). Usually goes unnoticed and therefore has little or no effect on an individual's identity or status. Motives and rationalisation: Offenders can easily justify or rationalise their actions as a "moment of madness" or "just a mistake". Individuals do not see themselves as deviant — it doesn't affect their self-concept. Lemert argues that since primary deviance is so widespread and varied, it's pointless to seek its causes — it is often normal behaviour that just goes uncaught.

describe secondary deviance and the process

lemert- Secondary deviance occurs after an individual has been publicly labelled as deviant. It's the result of societal reaction rather than the original act itself.

Process: Labelling: Society or authorities (e.g. police, courts, media) label an individual as "criminal", "junkie", "thief", etc. Stigmatisation: The person becomes shamed, humiliated, and excluded from mainstream society. Master Status: The deviant label becomes their main identity — society and even the person themselves see them only in terms of this label. E.g. They are no longer seen as "a neighbour or student" but as "a criminal". Crisis of Self-Concept: The person struggles with their sense of identity. To resolve this crisis, they may accept the deviant label and see themselves as society sees them. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The individual acts according to the label, fulfilling society's expectations of deviance. Lemert calls this secondary deviance — deviance that results from the process of labelling.

what is a deviant career

Once labelled and excluded, the deviant may find it difficult to re-enter normal society. For example, ex-convicts often find it hard to get jobs because of their criminal record.

This social rejection may lead them to seek support among others who are also labelled "outsiders".

They may join a deviant subculture that: Offers peer support and status. Provides role models for further deviance. Rewards deviant behaviour and confirms their deviant identity.

This marks the start of a deviant career — a continued pattern of deviant behaviour reinforced by subcultural values.

describe young and his study of hippy marijuana users

Young studied hippy marijuana users in London during the 1960s-70s.

Primary Deviance: Drug use was initially peripheral (a small, private part of their lifestyle).

Reaction from Authority: The control culture (police, media, wider society) began to label and persecute the hippies as "drug users".

Consequences of Labelling: The hippies began to see themselves as outsiders. They retreated into closed groups, forming a deviant subculture with shared identity and norms. This subculture emphasised "alternative" lifestyles — longer hair, more expressive clothing, and increased drug use. Drug use then became central to their identity, attracting even more police attention. This produced a self-fulfilling prophecy and secondary deviance — deviance created by the labelling process itself.

describe young and lemert's theoretical implications

Lemert and Young demonstrate that: It is not the act itself that creates serious deviance, But rather society's reaction (labelling, persecution, exclusion).

This reaction can amplify deviance — a process known as deviance amplification. Attempts to control deviance (e.g. police crackdowns) may produce more deviance by reinforcing the deviant identity.

This links to labelling theory's key idea: social control agencies can create deviance rather than prevent it.

evalauation of lemert and young's theory of deviant careers

Downes and Rock (2003): A deviant career is not inevitable. People always have free will — they can choose not to deviate further, even after being labelled. Therefore, labelling theory can over-predict deviance.

Other criticisms: Deterministic - assumes people automatically accept labels and continue to deviate. Fails to explain primary deviance - why people commit deviant acts before being labelled. Focuses too much on the victim of labelling rather than the power structures (e.g. who has the power to label).

Strength: Highlights the importance of societal reaction and how it can worsen deviance, challenging traditional crime control assumptions

describe the deviance amplification spiral

· Describes a process in which the attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in the levels of deviance. This leads to greater attempts to control it and in turn produces yet higher levels of deviance.

· This process is an ongoing cycle and in Young's case more and more control produces more deviance as in the case of the hippies.

· For example, Cohen's study of the Folk Devils and Moral panics- a study of the societal reaction to the "mods and rockers" disturbances involving groups of youths at English seaside resorts.

· Press exaggeration and distorted reporting of events began a moral panic, with growing public concern and moral entrepreneurs calling for a "crackdown"

· The police responded by arresting more youths and the courts imposed harsher penalties. This confirmed the deviance to the public which provoked more public concern, in an upward spiral of deviance amplification.

At the same time, the demonising of the mods and rockers as "folk devils" caused further isolation as "outsiders" which resulted in more deviant behaviour.

describe the deviance amplification spiral and its similarities to Lemert's idea of secondary deviance

· This spiral is similar to Lemert's idea of secondary deviance as in both cases, the societal reaction to an initial deviant act leads to further deviance instead of control, which in turn leads to more control etc.

how does the deviance amplification spiral emphasise differences between the functional and labelling theories

· This also shows differences between the functionalist and labelling theories.

· The functionalist theory states the importance of agencies of social control which promote stability, whereas in the labelling theory they encourage further deviance.

· Folk devils, therefore, are opposite to the dark figure of crime.

· While the dark figure of crime is about unlabelled, unrecorded crime that is ignored by the public and police, the folk devils and their actions are over exaggerated and overexposed by the public and authorities.

· For law enforcement, folk devils take resources away from detecting and punishing the crimes that make up the dark figure.

describe labelling and the criminal justice policy

Labelling theory suggests that attempts to control and punish deviance can actually increase it.

Triplett (2000) - In the USA, there has been a trend to see young offenders as "evil" and to punish them more harshly (e.g. treating truancy as a serious crime). This has led to more offending, not less - supporting Lemert's theory of secondary deviance.

De Haan (2000) - Found similar results in Holland, where harsher treatment increased stigmatisation and deviance among young offenders.

Policy implications:

Negative labelling can push offenders into a deviant career by excluding them from mainstream society.

Therefore, to reduce deviance, the law should avoid excessive rules and harsh punishments.

Examples of alternative approaches:

Decriminalising soft drugs → fewer people labelled as criminals → less secondary deviance.

Avoiding "naming and shaming" → prevents offenders from being seen as "evil outsiders," which reduces exclusion and further deviance.

what is reintegrative shaming and the different types

· Braithwaite identifies a more positive role for the labelling process. He distinguishes between 2 types of shaming (negative labelling).

1. Disintegrative shaming- not only the crime but the criminal is labelled as bad and the offender is excluded from society.

2. Reintegrative shaming- labels the act but not the actor- "they have done a bad thing" rather than "they are a bad person"

· The policy of reintegrative shaming avoids stigmatising the individual as evil while at the same time making them aware of the negative impact of their actions to others and then encourages forgiveness from others.

· This makes it easier for the offender and community to separate the offender from the offence and readmit the offender back into mainstream society.

· This also avoids pushing them into secondary deviance.

· Braithwaite argues that crime rates tend to be lower in societies where reintegrative shaming is dominant

describe metal health and suicide- suicide

Suicide

· Durkheim studied it with the aim of showing that sociology is a science. Using official stats, he claimed to have discovered the cause of suicide in how effectively society integrated individuals and regulated their behaviour.

· Interactionists reject Durkheim's positivist approach and his reliance on official stats- to understand suicide we must study its meaning for those who choose to kill themselves.

The meaning of suicide

· Douglas takes an interactionist approach to suicide. He is critical of the use of official stats for reasons such as the fact that it is socially constructed and tells us more about the people who construct them such as the police and coroners, rather than the real rate of suicide

· Eg, whether a death is labelled as suicide or accident is depends on the interactions and negotiations between social actors such as coroners, relatives, friends etc.

· For example, relatives may feel guilty about not preventing suicide and press for a verdict of misadventure rather than suicide.

· The stats, therefore, tell nothing about the meanings behind an individual's decision to commit suicide and instead we must use qualitative measures such as analysis of suicide notes or unstructured interviews with people close to the individual- allow us to get behind the true meaning

describe coroners' commonsense knowledge

· Atkinson agrees that official stats are merely a record of the label's coroners attach to deaths and that it is impossible to be certain on the meanings the death gave to their deaths.

· Therefore, Atkinson focuses on the "taken for granted" assumptions that coroners make when reaching their verdicts.

· He found that "typical suicide" was important eg certain modes of death, location and circumstance of the death, and life history were seen as typical of suicides.

· But Atkinson's approach can be criticised and used against him. His account is no more than an interpretation and no reason to accept it- he believes all we have is interpretation of the social world rather than facts.

describe mental illness in crime and deviance

· Interactionists reject official stats on mental illness as they regard these as social constructs- simply a record of the activities of those such as psychiatrists with the power to attach labels such as schizophrenic.