1. What we will cover today:
- What is Interactionism?
- What role does the media
play is labelling deviancy?
http://www.youtube.com/

2.  Interactionists do not assume
lawbreakers are different
from law-abiding people.
 They suggest that most people
commit deviant and criminal
acts but only some are caught
and stigmatised for it.
 Emphasis should be placed
upon understanding the
reaction and definition of
deviance rather than the
causes of the initial act.

3. “Deviancy is not a quality of the act a person
commits but rather a consequence of the
application by others of rules and sanctions
to an ‘offender’. Deviant behaviour is
behaviour that people so label.”
Howard Becker (1928-)
Labelling Theory - Actions
are not intrinsically
deviant, but rather they
become deviant through
the application of a label

4.  Becker believed that once a label has been
applied to an individual, it may be granted
master status.
 All other aspects of the individual’s life are
no longer regarded as important as the label
of deviant, and deviancy becomes a central
activity.
 A deviant career usually follows.
 British Crime Survey statistics show that
young black men are more likely to be stopped
and searched than any other group.
 It is argued that this is a result of the police
officers belief that they are more likely to
offend than any other social group and they
therefore become subjects of routine
suspicion.
Q. Who does
the Labelling?
Who reinforces
the labels?

5.  The interactionist approach recognises
that crime and deviance is socially
constructed by agencies of social
control.
 The media are a powerful agency of
social control that shape views and
perceptions of crime.
 Most people see crimes committed by
powerless groups as a bigger problem
than crime committed by the powerful.
 The media has a role in amplifying the
extent of deviance through the way it
reports crime (hence the media socially
constructs crime and deviance).

6.  Labelling theory is incredibly hard to
prove, as we cannot know how deviant an
individual was before they were labelled
 Some acts will always be regarded as
deviant whether they are labelled or not;
for example, murder
 Not everyone reacts to labels.
 Some labelling theorists are criticised for
ignoring the causes of deviance.

7.  Labelling theory is incredibly hard to
prove, as we cannot know how deviant an
individual was before they were labelled
 Some acts will always be regarded as
deviant whether they are labelled or not;
for example, murder
 Not everyone reacts to labels.
 Some labelling theorists are criticised for
ignoring the causes of deviance.