2. Interactionalism and crime

• Judgement


  The opportunity to refrain from hiding how judgemental you truly are
• Interactionism


  The view that crime, deviance, and official crime statistics are a social construction
• Crime


  The topic of study
• School to Prison Pipeline


  A systemic phenomenon in which students, primarily from marginalised communities, are pushed into the criminal justice system instead of receiving support and education

  
• Howard Becker: 'A deviant is simply someone to whom the label has been successfully applied to, and deviant behaviour is simply behaviour that people label so.'
• Just because someone breaks a rule, it does not mean others will define it as deviant
• Someone must enforce the rules (or draw attention to them), these people usually have a vested interest in the issue
• If the person is successfully labelled, then the consequences follow
• By the 1950s, labelling theorists (interactionists) question the approach of assuming a difference between those that offend and those that don't, and instead ask how and why some people and actions come to be labelled as criminal
• Social Construction of Crime

  Labelling theorists argue that no act is inherently criminal or deviant in itself - in all situations and at all times. Instead, it only comes to be so when others label it as such
• Laws are made from labels
• The police and criminal justice system do not enforce law equally, they use labels
• It is not the nature of the act that makes it deviant, but the nature of society's reaction to the act
• Proof that Crime is Social Construct

  • Alcohol is illegal in some Arabic countries
  • Beastiality is legal in Germany
  • Mozambique has a criminal age of responsibility 16, ours is 10
• Who gets labelled


  Depends on: 1) Interactions with agencies of social control, 2) Appearance and background, 3) Situation and circumstance of offence
• UK Gov Report 2022 found that "Black men were greater than 3 times more likely to be arrested than white men"
• Stop & Search: Short Film

  • If you're black in the UK, the police are 10 times more likely to stop and search you
• The point of this short film is to make you wonder how would you feel if it was the other way around?
• Strengths of Becker's Labelling Theory

  • Shows that the law is not a fixed set of rules, but something constructed that we need to explain
  • Shows that the law is often enforced in discriminatory ways and the crime statistics reflect this
• Weaknesses of Becker's Labelling Theory


  • Fails to explain primary causes of deviance
  • Not everyone accepts their label – people can 'beat the odds'
  • Not all labelling based on biases but on seriousness of crime
• Cicourel's Negotiation of Justice

  Cicourel looks at the way delinquency is dealt with, finding that defining a young person as delinquent is not straightforward – it requires a process of interaction and negotiation
• When the police stop and interrogate people, some young people can talk themselves out of trouble, but others cannot because they are seen as the 'typical delinquent'
• Officers have typification's (stereotypes) of the typical criminal which leads them to concentrate on types of people that are more likely to offend - for instance, by patrolling working class areas
• MC parents and children are better able to negotiate with authorities, so as a result, most delinquents are seen to be from WC backgrounds
• WC – stopped, arrested, charged. MC – warned, counselled, supported
• Official statistics are socially constructed too


  The statistics produced by the CJS only tell us about the activities of the police and prosecutors, rather than about the amount of crime in society
• Strengths of Cicourel's Negotiation of Justice


  • Useful in explaining day-to-day interaction with agents of social control
  • Recognises the power that police and courts hold and helps to show the viewpoint of the underdog and powerless
• Weaknesses of Cicourel's Negotiation of Justice

  • Focuses too much on small-scale interactions – ignoring wider social structures
• Primary Deviance


  Deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled as criminal
• Secondary Deviance


  Deviant acts and individuals that are labelled
• Master Status


  When a person is consistently labelled as deviant/criminal they will eventually see themselves that way
• Deviant Career


  The possibility that someone labelled as deviant may turn to a life-long deviance
• Self-fulfilling Prophecy


  Labelling of individuals and groups can lead to them acting up to negative labels
• Folk Devils


  Whole groups that are demonised as dangerous or evil
• Deviancy Amplification


  The cycle where the reaction to a perceived social problem can actually exacerbate the problem
• Strengths of the Effects of Labelling

  • Highlights the role of the media
  • Addresses the impact labels can have on individuals and groups
• Weaknesses of the Effects of Labelling

  • Too deterministic – implying that once someone is labelled, a deviant career is inevitable
  • Ignores the real victims as it is too focused on marginalised groups as victims
  • Moral panics outdated: In the age of digital communication are audiences more sophisticated?