Interactionism/Media

• Stages of the Labelling Process

  1. Primary deviance - young person commits an act of deviance
  2. Secondary deviance - caught by police or moral entrepreneur
  3. Labelled by moral entrepreneur or media
  4. Becomes master status
  5. Self fulfilling prophecy
• Becker

  • 'Deviance behaviour is behaviour that people so label'
  • Youth subcultures are not inherently deviant - they are the most likely to be labelled this way and get trapped in the criminal justice system as a result
• Akers

  • Interactionism is an incomplete theory as there must be some reason why they are labelled in the first place
  • If someone engages in acts against societal norms then surely they deserve the label
• Phillips & Bowling

  • Negative treatment by the criminal justice system towards young black people leads to a hostile relationship with law enforcement
  • Criminal youth subcultures are a product of negative labelling that stems from unfair stop and search rates - it is an expression of their hostility and alienation
• Young

  • The term 'moral panic' implies that the crime was entirely constructed by the media which is largely inaccurate, even if it does exaggerate it.
  • The reality of crime and the suffering it brings must be taken seriously and not reduced to a media construction
• Cicourel

  • Justice is negotiable and dependent on police ideas of a 'typical delinquent'
  • Most people convicted had fathers who were manual workers
  • Middle-class children were less likely to be charged if their background did not fit the image of a typical delinquent and the parents presented themselves as nice, respectable people.
• S. Cohen

  • Media presented a distorted picture of Mods & Rockers as folk devils 'hell bent on destruction' which led to a moral panic
  • Greatly exaggerated the amount of violence and vandalism
  • Led to a deviancy amplification spiral in which the increase of police arrests was seen as unjustified which led to further violence and media in response