Interactionist Perspective on Crime & Deviance (AQA GCSE Sociology)
Revision Note
Written by: Raj Bonsor
Reviewed by: Cara Head
Key thinker: Becker (1997) causes of crime
Interactionism explores the interactions between individuals
Becker (1963) wrote from an interactionist perspective and claimed that an act becomes deviant based on
whether others (e.g., police officers and teachers) say it is
society's reactions to it
rulemaking by social groups
Becker focused on small-scale human actions, negative labelling and the development of a self-fulfilling prophecy
How deviance is created
Deviance is created by society, as some social groups have the power to make the rules and apply them to others
Because of their social position, they have the power to negatively label particular people as 'outsiders'
Power is related to age, gender, ethnicity, and class, e.g.,
adults make the rules for young people and have the power to label them as 'typical offenders'
the bourgeoisie have power over the proletariat to influence which laws are passed
police profiling and labelling of black and Asian individuals lead to disproportionality in stop-and-search
Some actions are regarded more leniently than others, e.g., anti-social acts by groups of young people
Whereas some actions create what Becker described as the true outsiders, e.g., murder
Whether the ‘label’ of deviancy is applied depends on:
who commits the act
when and where it is committed
The same behaviour may break the rules in one place and time but not another (e.g., a soldier killing someone in a war is deemed normal)
who observes the act and who feels harmed by it
The same behaviour may break the rules when committed by one person but not another (e.g., a civilian instead of a soldier doing the killing)
Therefore, interactionism argues that most people commit criminal acts, but only some people are caught and labelled for it
Deviant careers
Becker is interested in how people develop deviant careers over time:
Steps involved in developing deviant careers | Example |
|---|---|
The agents of social control (e.g. police and courts) have the power to make the label stick. | A young man starts using alcohol to cope with problems in his life. |
This label becomes the individual's master status and will affect how others see them and respond to them. | He is caught drunk during the day and publically labelled as a deviant. He is now known as the local 'drunkard,' which is his master status. |
Assumptions will be made that the individuals concerned have the negative characteristics normally associated with the label. | He gets treated as though he is going to steal from his family and friends to feed his habit. His parents reject him, and he loses his friends and his job. |
As a consequence, the individuals will begin to see themselves in terms of the label. The initial labelling leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. | He may resort to other criminal and deviant activities, such as shoplifting and petty theft, to support his habit. |
The individual is rejected from certain social groups, which encourages further deviance. Becker describes the deviant career as complete when an individual joins an organised deviant group that develops a deviant subculture. | He now moves into a deviant group whose members are in the same situation. He identifies with the group and sees himself as one of them - an alcoholic. Via the group, he learns how to avoid trouble and obtain alcohol illegally without getting caught. |
Criticisms
Critics argue that interactionism doesn't explain why individuals deviate in the first place before they are labelled
Interactionism sees criminals as passive victims of labelling (by teachers and the media) rather than people who choose to commit crime
It takes the blame away from the perpetrators of crime and excuses criminal behaviour
The explanation is deterministic as it implies that once someone is labelled, a deviant career is inevitable
Structural approaches (functionalism and Marxism) argue that interactionism overlooks the influence of the social structure on behaviour
Marxists argue that interactionism fails to account for power inequalities among social classes as a cause of crime
The New Right view argues that some ethnic groups are socialised into a culture of the underclass, resulting in a greater acceptance of criminal behaviour
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