Interactionism and labelling theory

• key idea of interactionism and labelling theory

  an act only becomes criminal when labelled as such. To understand crime, we must focus on how certain acts and people get labelled as criminal
• Strengths of interactionism and labelling theory

  • labelling theory shows that law is not a fixed set of rules to be taken for granted
  • shifts focus onto how police create crime by applying labels based on their stereotypes of the ‘typical criminal’. selective law enforcement explains why the working class and minority groups are over-represented in the crime statistics
  • shows how attempts to control deviance can trigger a deviance amplification spiral
• Limitations of interactionism and labelling theory

  • wrongly implies that once someone is labelled a deviant career is inevitable
  • emphasises negative effects of labelling gives offenders a victim status ignoring the real victims
  • fails to explain why people commit primary deviance in the first place before they are labelled
  • doesn’t explain where the power to label comes from
  • fails to explain why labels are applied to certain groups