Strength - Highlights role of media creating deviance and producing moral panic.
Strength - Highlights weaknesses in official statistics; allows bias in law enforcement.
2 Limitations of Interactionism
Limitation - Doesn't explain why deviant behaviour happens in first place. No acceptance that some people may choose deviance.
Limitation - Ignores victim of crime and focuses on the criminal. Potentially romanticises crime.
What did Becker and Lemert suggest about labelling?
Becker - Crime is subjective concept, authorities label certain acts as criminal or deviant and then behaviour will be punished accordingly.
Lemert - Labelling is a cause of crime and deviance. Labelling certain people as deviant, society encourages them to become more so. Distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance.
Primary Deviance
Act that has not been publicly labelled, mostly uncaught and often trivial e.g. smoking and drinking underage, downloading music illegally.
Secondary Deviance
Results from labelling. People treat offenders in terms of their label, becomes their master status and can lead to self-fulfilling prophecy.
What happens as a result of labelling?
Self-fulfilling prophecy is complete, offender may be rejected by society and forced into company of other offenders.
