Crime (INTERACTIONISM)
General
Focus on social construction of crime - an act only becomes deviant when labelled as such, through reaction. But not every deviant/criminal act is labelled; labelling theory is selectively enforced against some groups. Some believe labelling causes individuals to be defined a master status.
Becker - social construction of crime.
A deviant is someone who the label has been applied to. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people choose it to be. Those who are labelled are labelled based on gender, class and ethnicity.
Cicourel - Typifications
Stereotypes of typical criminal lead to concentration on that type of person - eg, patrolling w/c areas.
Lemert - Primary and secondary deviance.
1) Primary deviance - deviant acts not labelled as criminal.
2) Secondary deviance - deviant acts/individuals that are labelled as criminal. People only see the person according to their master status (defined by their deviant act), leading to deviant career because struggle to find employment.
Braithwaite - 2 types of shaming.
1) Reintegrative shaming - punishes them in a way that strengthens their bonds with society.
2) Disintegrative shaming - punishment which isolates the individual and causes secondary deviance.
Douglas - suicide statistics.
Rejects use of official stats when examining suicide. Whether a death is a labelled a suicide depends on interactions between social actors (doctors, the coroner, family). So stats tell us nothing about meaning behind decision to commit suicide.