Interactionalism Theories

• Interactionism and Labelling Theory:

  Strengths:

  • Labelling theory shows that the law is not a fixed set of rules to be taken for granted, but something’s whose construction we need to explain.
  • shifts the focus onto how the police create crime by applying labels based on their stereotypes of the ‘typical criminal‘ (typifications). This selective law enforcement may explain why the working class and minority groups are over-represented in crime statistics
  • hows how attempts to control deviance can trigger a deviance amplifications spiral (e.g. a moral panic) and create more deviance.
• Interactionism and Labelling Theory:

  Limitations:

  • wrongly implies that once someone is labelled, a deviant career is inevitable. This is called determinism- as though the outcome is pre-determined
  • Its emphasis on the negative effects of labelling gives offenders a ‘victim’ status ignoring the real crimes
  • Fails to explain why people commit primary deviance in the fist place, before they are labelled.
• Interactionism and Labelling Theory:

  Limitations (2):

  • It doesn’t explain where the power to label comes from. It focuses on officials such as the police who apply the labels, rather than on the capitalist class who make the rules.
  • Fails to explain why the labels are applied to certain groups (e.g. the working class) but not to others.