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Interactionism and Labelling Theory (The social construction of crime (The…
Interactionism and Labelling Theory
The social construction of crime
For labelling theorists, no act is deviant in itself, deviance is simply a social construct
An act or a person only become deviant when labelled by others as deviant
Differential enforcement
Labelling theorists argue that social control agencies tend to label certain groups as criminal
Typifications
Cicourel argues that police use typifications of the "typical delinquent". Individuals fitting the typification are more likely to be stopped, arrested and charged
The social construction of crime statistics: a topic not a resource
We can't use crime stats as a resource because they are recorded by the police and don't give a valid picture of crime patterns
We don't know for certain the real rate of crime because we don't know how much crimw goes undetected, unreported and unrecorded
The effects of labelling
By labellling certain people as deviant, society actually encourages them to become more so
Primary and secondary deviance
Primary deviance
Deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled. Those who commit them don't usually see themselves as deviant
Secondary deviance
Results from societal reaction. Labelling someone as an offender can involve stigmatising and excluding them from normal society.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Being labelled may provoke a crisis for the individual's self-concept and lead to a SFP in which they live up to the label, resulting in secondary deviance
Further societal reaction may reinforce the individual's outsider status and lead them joining a deviant subculture
Deviance amplification spiral
In a deviance amplification spiral, the attempt to control deviance leads to it increasing rather than decreasing
Folk devils and moral panics
Cohen's study of the mods and rockers uses the concept of deviance amplification spiral
Media exaggeration and distortion began a moral panic, with growing public concern
Moral entrepeneurs called for a "crackdown"
Demonising the mods and rockers as "folk devils" mariginalised them further, resulting in more deviance
Mental illness and suicide
Interactionists are interested not just in crime but in deviant behaviour more widely
Criticisms
It tends to be deterministic, implying that once someone is labelled, a deviant career is inevitable
Its emphasis on the negative effects of labelling gives the offender a kind of victim status. Realist sociologists argue that this ignores the real victims of crime
It implies that without labelling, deviance wouldn't exist
By assuming that offenders are passive victims of labelling, it ignores the fact that individuals may actively choose deviance