Chapter 13 Interactionist Theories PDF

Chapter 13 Interactionist Theories by Robert A. Stebbins University of Calgary Slides Prepared by Steph...

Chapter 13 Interactionist Theories by Robert A. Stebbins University of Calgary Slides Prepared by Stephen Schneider Saint Mary’s University Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-1 Learning Objectives Describe primary and secondary deviation and explain how primary deviation leads to secondary deviation. Understand the process of drift among juvenile delinquents Explain how moral entrepreneurs create and enforce the law. Discuss the various contingencies that criminals encounter in their deviant careers. Understand how people are socialized into a life of crime. Outline the strengths and limitations of interactionist theories of deviance. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-2 Interactionist Theory in Criminology This theory is centred on interchanges between people and the meanings of these interchanges. It is based on broader symbolic interactionism theory. There are three basic premises of symbolic interactionism: 1. People act towards the human and nonhuman objects in their lives according to the meanings those objects have for them. 2. These meaning emerge from interactions among people. 3. The meanings of objects learned in this manner are applied and occasionally modified Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-3 Interactionist Theory in Criminology Central concept in interactionist The passage of an individual theories of crime through the stages in one or more is the deviant related deviant identities career. How the social response to initial acts of deviance can move a Labelling theory person toward a deviant identity & career How people learn to be criminals Differential through interaction with other association theory criminals and how they acquire a criminal identity Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-4 The Deviant Career Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-5 The Deviant Career Interactionism centres on what happens to Some groups or criminals once their individuals have power to deviant activities force the deviant label on commence. the less powerful. Thus, deviance is not a quality of an act, but a label. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-6 The Deviant Career Some deviants escape public detection. However, labelling is Some have not not always deviated but are accurate or labelled as such. The label may be fair. subject to negotiation between possibly deviant people and those who label Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat them. 13-7 The Deviant Career The establishmen t of moral rules Thus, Their application interactionist through theory helps labelling explain: The long-term consequences of these processes for deviants and for society Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-8 The Deviant Career A deviant career refers to stages of personal involvement in criminal activity, like stages in an occupational career. Careers are influenced by contingencies and turning points encountered at each stage—for example, a youth crime career may be prolonged by early delinquency, drug use, and lack of a job. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-9 The Deviant Career Turning points (early onset of delinquency, Deviant drug use, careers are unemployment) A sense of continuity also Perception of increasing characterize opportunities d by the Increased sophistication following: Possibly recognition by peers Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-10  The Deviant Career Labelling (Lemert, 1972) Primary deviation Early in the career, the offender commits deviant acts infrequently but does not self-identity as a deviant. Person who out of curiosity occasionally takes an opioid drug supplied by someone else exemplifies primary deviation. Secondary deviation Deviance becomes a way of life The individual has an affinity for the intended deviant act (e.g., theft, homicide, drug use). This affinity helps him or her choose among existing options. For example, imagine someone who believes the rich cheat others to get their money. This person has an affinity for stealing from the rich. That affinity could lead the individual into crimes against the rich when faced with Copyright such ©unpleasant 2020 by Top Hat alternatives as poverty, 13-11 The Deviant Career A precondition of deviance is a willingness to engage in it. An individual must have an affinity for the intended act. People who are willing to engage in deviance have a weak commitment to conventional norms and identities. Few young people have a strong value commitment to deviance. Thus, they drift between conventional and deviant behaviour. Matza (1990): young offenders are attached to certain marginal, masculine, subterranean traditions. They found satisfaction in drinking, smoking, being tough, and enjoying pleasures of “real” men. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-12 The Deviant Career Moral Rhetorics Claims and assertions are used to justify one’s deviant behaviour. for example, by claiming that they steal in response to the greed and immorality of shopkeepers whose prices are unfair. They are used to neutralize the stigma associated with deviance. Later, young offenders use instrumental rhetoric to justify their acts. Here they stress the cunning and power they bring to attack people who are otherwise more powerful and uncontrollable Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-13 The Deviant Career Agents of social control Agents of social control are those involved in maintaining law and order: police, judges, other CJS members, and some ordinary citizens. Moral entrepreneurs Moral entrepreneurs are individuals who define or advocate new rules and laws or the different enforcement of the existing laws. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-14 Agents of Social Control Moral entrepreneurs construct “claim-making activities” to convince people a threat exists: 1. They assert the existence of a situation involving human activity as a cause. 2. They define it as undesirable, but amenable to correction. 3. They stimulate public scrutiny (search/scan/study) of the condition as the claims makers see it These arguments are quasi-theories. They are not based on empirical evidence and they are often overly simplistic. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-15 Agents of Social Control Certain ethnic groups are targeted by moral entrepreneurs. Thus they are more likely to have the deviant label successfully applied to them. In other words, deviance is created in part by people in society. Those publicly labelled “deviant” face some sort of community or societal reaction to their misdeeds— for example, imprisonment, ostracism, fines, torture, surveillance, ridicule, and/or stigma. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-16 The Deviant Career Secondary Deviation Secondary deviation occurs when deviants see that their behaviour has substantially modified their ways of living. Accusations of deviance are the most influential factor behind the redefinition. Being labelled as a thief, murderer, rapist, etc., and sanctioned for such behaviour, forces the deviant to change his or her lifestyle. Master status: when society considers someone’s criminality as their defining characteristic. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-17 Figure 13.1: Links between Primary Deviance, Societal Reaction, and Secondary Deviance Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-18 Secondary Deviation Individuals who become part of a deviant group learn from that group how to cope with the problems associated with their deviance. This makes being a deviant easier. deviant acquires rationalizations for his or her values, attitudes, and behaviours, However, full-fledged deviants are not always members of groups. Some reject the label of deviant during certain phases of their career. There are those who reject the label of deviant during certain phases of their career, though they may be forced into that status. Some of these individuals spend part of their career trying to re- enter conventional life, often without success. Yet the fact that they refuse to identify themselves as deviant leads them to avoid others labelled as such (e.g., shoplifters and embezzlers) Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-19 Secondary Deviation Career contingency Career contingency is an unintended event or situation that can affect the movement of an individual along a deviant career. For example, this could be an interaction with an agent or agents of social control. This underlies the significance of interaction between suspected deviants and social control agents in the deviant’s career. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-20 Secondary Deviation Continuance Commitment This refers to the awareness of the impossibility of choosing a non-criminal identity, because of penalties (societal reactions) in making the switch— for example, the inability to get a job, a good job, police harassment. Penalties may be Structural (that is, they flow from the social structure of the community), or Personal (they flow from the person’s attitudes and sense of self). Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-21 The Deviant Career Reactions to Commitment Self-enhancing commitment—some are attached to their deviant activities; they enjoy what they do and are not motivated to leave this lifestyle. Self-degrading commitment—some redefine the values and penalties associated with their identity and become attached to them. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-22 Socialization into Crime Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-23 Socialization into Crime Differential Association (Sutherland) 1. People learn how to engage in crime. 2. This learning comes about through interaction with others who have already learned criminal ways. 3. The learning occurs in small, face-to-face groups. 4. What is learned is criminal technique, motives, attitudes, and rationalizations. 5. Among criminals, one important learned attitude is disregard for the community’s legal code. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-24 Differential Association Theory 6. One obtain this attitude by associating with those who hold it and not associating with those who don’t. 7. Differential associations with criminals and non-criminals vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity. 8. Learning criminal behaviour rests on the same principles as learning any other kind of behaviour. 9. Criminal behaviour is a response to the same cultural needs and values as non-criminal behaviour. For instance, one individual steals to get money for a new suit Copyright © 2020 of by Topclothes, Hat while 13-25 Differential Association Theory Strengths and contributions The theory points out the importance of learning criminal behaviour, motives, attitudes, and techniques. It highlights the importance of ties to deviant peers. Research shows that deviant peers are a major risk factor for criminal behaviour. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-26 Differential Association Theory Critiques Deviant motives and meanings are often gradually learned and tentatively applied. They are also modified over time in interactions with both deviants and non-deviants. Expressive reasons for committing crime (thrill and enjoyment) are ignored. Although the theory of differential association has been widely tested, convincing support for it has always been blocked by the difficulty of operationalizing some of Sutherland’s key concepts (e.g., frequency, intensity, and duration of criminal and noncriminal associations) Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-27 Table 13.1: Interactionist Theories Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-28 Limitations Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-29 Limitations We now examine interactionist theory limitations in terms of three critiques: neo-Marxist, empiricist, and ethno- methodological Neo-Marxist Critique This critique fails to relate crime and other forms of deviance to the larger society. In addition, it does not take into consideration historical, political, and economic contexts. Labelling theory fails to examine the division between powerful and powerless in society. It does not link power to concepts such as labelling, deviant career, and agents of social control. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-30 Limitations The Empiricist Critique Labelling theory Ignores non-labelled deviants. Some deviants—for example, religious fanatics or occultists—are deviant and are labelled by the community as such, even though they rarely if ever gain official recognition labelling as a cause of deviance is inadequately conceptualized. This is a misunderstanding. As this chapter shows, interactionists view labels as interpretations, not causes. The label of deviant is a career contingency, an event, a process, or a situation interpreted by deviants as having a significant impact on their moral careers labelling theory lacks testable propositions. Consequently, data in this area can be explained in many different ways Limitations Labelling theory neglects the question: “How do people make The sense of their social ethno- world?” methodol Labelling theorists do not examine how labels ogical are created. Instead, critique they rely on official definitions of who is labelled. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-32 Implications Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-33 Implications The theory exposes the moral entrepreneurs involved in deviance. It also highlights the damaging effects of the deviant label and how it makes re-entry into the community problematic. It notes that the deviant label is especially damaging when applied to youth, and consequently the juvenile courts should be used for only serious cases. It calls attention to the deviant career as a process that helps explain deviance beyond its initial causes. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-34 Summary Interactionist theory centres on the deviant interchanges among people and the meanings of these interchanges. A deviant career is the passage of an individual through the stages of one or more related deviant identities. Primary deviation occurs in the early stages of the deviant career. Here, deviance is enacted with little change in the person’s everyday routine or lifestyle. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-35 Summary The deviant drifts between two moral worlds. Deviance is facilitated by certain moral rhetorics and other aspects of the subterranean tradition Agents of social control help check deviant behaviour. Moral entrepreneurs create and enforce rules, which defines deviance. When deviants see their lives as substantially modified by deviance, they have moved into secondary deviation. Those publicly labelled deviant face some sort of societal reaction to their misdeeds and may have to cope with stigma. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-36 Summary Continuance commitment (forcing a person to remain in an identity) sometimes results from these encounters. When self-degrading commitment sets in, those affected redefine continuance penalties or adjust. Criminal socialization is not central to interactionist perspective, but interactionists have contributed: First, people learn crime through differential association Second, they are further socialized into it by being placed in and coming to accept (often grudgingly) a criminal identity. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-37 Summary Limitations to interactionist theories have been noted by neo-Marxists, empiricists, and ethnomethodologists. Interactionist theory has certain theoretical and practical implications. Continuance commitment to deviance among juveniles should be eschewed by avoiding the official label of criminal. Copyright © 2020 by Top Hat 13-38