Interactionism

• Taylor (1971)


  The slot machine analogy -

  • social processes can be random and unpredictable
  • like a slot machine there are winners and losers
  • influenced by uncontrollable external factors (eg. prepared but not chosen for the job)
• Interactionists - Crime 


  see crime statistics as a social construction, links to the labelling of powerless groups in society.
• Symbolic Interactionism *


  micro-level theory

  • drug use seen as a social phenomenon
  • people participate in drug trafficking because is is seen as a desirable path, influenced by subcultural norms and values
• Becker (1966) - the labelling theory

  • "self-fulfilling prophecy", labels become internalised
  • primary deviance, the initial act of rule-breaking
  • secondary deviance, someone adopts the labels given to them
• Becker - "Master Status"

  a deviant label that contains an evaluation of an individual, is hard to shift from public perception
• Lemert (1951) - primary deviance

  the initial act of rule-breaking occurs before an individual is labelled as deviant by society
• Matza (1964) - "Delinquency and Drift"

  • young deviants don't completely reject social norms, they drift between conventional and deviant behaviours
  • "techniques of neutralisation", neutralise feelings of shame or guilt to justify actions: denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, and appeal to higher loyalties
• Cons of interactionist approach

  • deviance normalised
  • inequality used as an excuse
  • fail to provide an explanation for the original deviant action, before the labelling theory takes place
  • 'deterministic approach' - assumes that people live up to their label
  • neo-marxists argue that deviance can be a conscious act of rebellion, rather than a reaction to a label
• Cohen

  the mass media examines people’s behaviour and often judges and labels it in a negative way thus putting pressure on the state and the police to suppress behaviour that the mass media defines as deviant
• Lemert

  • society makes it difficult for criminals to re-integrate into society because society stigmatises deviants and criminals
  • criminals fall back on the company of those who treat them normally, eg. other criminals and deviants
• Left Realists

  the labelling theory is guilty for over-romanticising deviance, neglecting the victims of crime and blaming the agencies of social control for causing crime
• Ackers

  deviants don’t need to wait until a label is attached to understand that what they are doing is wrong