uestion 23--------

Examine the strengths and weaknesses of an

interactionist approach to deviance.

he interactionist approach to deviance is an extremely popular topic for A-level sociology

students. In this case, the question demands that the strengths and weaknesses of
interactionism are examined. In other essays it is possible to achieve a numerical balance
between the strengths and weaknesses of an approach. However,in this instance, a numerical
balance is quite difficult to achieve, because interactionism is such a major departure from
functionalist theories of deviance, in that it shows that it is important to look at what happens
to deviants after they have been found out. This was the only sociological theory at the time
which did this, and as a consequence is largely beyond reproach in this respect.

The functionalist perspective on deviance focuses on the biograph- In the opening paragraph, I have
ical details of the deviant, such as what motivates the deviant to briefly compared the functionalist
act in a particular way, and/or what social forces and pressures approach to deviance with that of
govern the actions of the deviant. In comparison, the interactionist interactionism. This clearly spells
approach to deviance looks at how and why individuals and out the difference between
groups are seen as deviant, and examines the relationship between the two perspectives. There is
those who are labelled as deviant and those who are able to define no need to expand on the
an act as deviant, for example, the relationship between the pupil functionalist perspective. That is
and the teacher, or between the police officer and the criminal. not what the essay is asking you
to do.

According to Becker, writing from an interactionist perspective, This paragraph offers an explana-
certain groups in society have the power to make the rules and tion of labelling. Note that I use
determine what constitutes deviance. For Becker an act cannot be an example to illustrate the point,
classified as deviant until it has been labelled as deviant. Some in this instance the example of a
groups in society have the power to create a label and to make teacher labelling a pupil. Most
that label stick - for example, a teacher can label pupils as deviant students can identify with this.
because they have been disruptive in class. Through a series of I expect that most of you can

97
Question 23
think of a time when a teacher
has done this, either positively or
negatively.
In this paragraph I have explained
the consequence of deviance.
This paragraph focuses on
support for Becker's work with
an example of an interactionist
study which was carried out in
Liverpool.As I live in Merseyside,
I tend to use a lot of examples
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measures, such as sending letters home, writing reports about
those particular pupils, and discussion with other members of
staff, a teacher can give pupils a negative label that can affect
them for the rest of their lives.
However, Becker claimed that it is the circumstances which
surround a particular act which determine whether or not the act
is seen as deviant: it depends on who commits the act, when the
act is committed, where it is committed and who sees it. For
example, spectators running onto a football pitch at the end of
the match are seen as deviant, whereas spectators running onto
a rugby union pitch are not perceived in the same way. In
addition, deviance has a historical aspect to it. For example, in
Britain up until the 1870s it was usual for men to bathe naked at
the beach, but by 1872 it was considered improper, and men had
to wear drawers, which also came to be seen as immodest and
were replaced by bathing costumes covering most of the arms and
legs. The strength of interactionist theory is that it shows the
importance of society in creating deviance. In other words, unlike
in previous functionalist theories, society, not the deviant, is seen
as responsible for deviance.
Another strength of interactionism is that it points to the effects
of being labelled a deviant. According to Becker, labels are not
neutral. They designate an individual as a particular sort of
person. In other words, a label is an evaluation of an individual.
A label can become an individual's 'master status'. This is a label
which over-rides all other labels. An example is that a man might
be a father, husband and brother, but 'paedophile' over-rides these
labels. Becker argues that the master status can become part of a
person's self-image which may result in the deviants seeking out
others like themselves, until eventually the label produces a self-
fulfilling prophecy. For example, pupils who have been labelled
as troublemakers, thrown out of classes, and possibly excluded
from school, may take up the label of troublemakers. They may
start to live up to the label. Hence, the label 'troublemakers'
becomes their master status and can become a self-fulfilling
prophecy. Furthermore, they may seek out other troublemakers
and truants from school and get involved in additional deviant
acts, such as shoplifting.
This element of Becker's argument can be seen in Gill's work,
Luke Street. This is an interactionist study of a 'tough' area of
Liverpool. Gill claims that employers saw 'Luke Street' as a bad
neighbourhood and were reluctant to employ anyone with a Luke
Street address. In addition, Gill argues that men from Luke Street
felt obliged to fight simply because they were expected to be 'hard'
Exam Success Guide
and had to live up to the expectation of being 'tough'. The inter- which relate to the area. You
actionist approach to deviance is stronger than positivism, because might like to see if any famous
it looks at the effects of criminalisation on the individual. studies have been carried out in a
This strength is clearly demonstrated in Young's study of locality near you. It helps to make
'hippy' marijuana smokers. Young looked at the meanings which the issue under investigation
the police put on the hippies and their behaviour as a conse- more relevant to you personally.
quence of this label. The police perceived the hippies as dirty,
lazy, scruffy, drug-smoking individuals. Young claims that as a
result, the hippies withdrew into themselves and excluded all
outsiders, and that marijuana-smoking became a central life
concern. He also suggests that the hippies went on to exaggerate
the difference between themselves and wider society by growing
their hair even longer and wearing even more outlandish clothes.
It would seem that police reaction to deviant behaviour 'caused'
the deviance to escalate.
Lemert takes labelling theory a stage further by emphasising
the importance of societal reaction. He distinguishes between
primary deviation and secondary deviation. Primary deviation is
deviance which has not been labelled. For example, most people
steal something at least once in their life, but they are not
perceived as deviant until they are caught stealing. Secondary
deviation consists of the response of the individual to societal
reaction to the deviant act, so in this case it would be how the
deviant acts as a result of the reaction to the theft.

Another interactionist, Cicourel, looked at the delinquency rates Cicourel provides a useful
in two similar Californian cities. If positivist theories of deviance example of an interactionist
are accurate, both cities should have similar rates of delinquency, study, as it not only explains the
because according to this approach social forces are the cause of importance of societal reaction,
deviance, and the social forces would be the same for both cities. but also how stereotyping can
However, Cicourel found a significant difference in the delin- lead to labelling. Cicourel's work
quency rate for the two cities. One city employed more juvenile can be used in other essays, in
officers than the other city. Consequently, this city had a higher particular essays on crime
delinquency rate. In the other city the delinquency rate went up statistics.
and down according to police activity, which itself was determined
by pressure from outside agencies such as the local newspaper or
the Mayor. Cicourel's study clearly demonstrates the importance
of societal reaction.
In addition, Cicourel studied the process by which offenders
became labelled as deviants. According to Cicourel, justice is
subject to negotiation, that is, the interaction which takes place
between the offender and the agencies of social control. He found
that the police have a stereotypical picture of what constitutes a
'typical delinquent'. This image is based on the appearance,
language, accent, and social class of the offender. It could be
argued that the police do not have unlimited budgets and prisons
do not have unlimited spaces, so agencies of social control are

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Question 23
This paragraph looks at the
two major weaknesses of the
interactionist approach to
deviance. All in all, it is difficult
to criticise the interactionist
approach because of the unique
contribution it makes to our
understanding of deviance. You
could make individualcriticisms
about each interactionist's work
as you go through the essay, but
these would not necessarily
detract from the strengths of
the theory.
In the concluding paragraph I
have summarised the strengths
of the interactionist approach to
deviance. In addition, I also
advocate a combination of
approaches. This is known as
methodological pluralism and it
shows the examiner that you
have a good awareness of which
approaches could work together.
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forced to be selective. On the other hand, this does not make it
right. Cicourel found that middle-class offenders were more likely
to be let off with a caution, whereas working-class offenders were
more likely to be arrested and charged. Again, a strength in the
interactionist approach to deviance as used by Cicourel is that it
uncovers relationships which would go undetected in other
methods of investigation.
There are two major weaknesses in the interactionist approach to
deviance. Firstly, interactionism offers no explanation for primary
deviation, that is why individuals commit a deviant act in the first
place. Bank robbers do not become bank robbers because someone
has labelled them as bank robbers. Secondly, interactionists fail
to explore the relationship between deviance and power. Why is
it that some have the power to label, and others do not? It is easy
for teachers to label a pupil as a troublemaker, for example, but
difficult for a pupil to label a teacher as inadequate.
The interactionist study of deviance can also be criticised for
making the assumption that nothing is deviant until it has been
labelled as such. It can be argued that some things, such as
murder or rape, are always wrong.
In conclusion, the interactionist study of deviance has obvious
strengths: it takes a new approach to deviance and uncovers
attitudes held by law-enforcement agencies. It also explores the
results of labelling on the individual, while not regarding the
offender as abnormal. It may be that the study of deviance
requires a synthesis of approaches in order that the strengths of
one approach may counteract the weaknesses in another, and vice
versa. One possible combination would be to use interactionism
alongside Marxism for a fuller understanding of deviant activity.
Exam Success Guide
In order to achieve a sufficient level of understanding on this topic, you must read a number of
A-level texts. Do not rely on your lesson notes or anyone text. Many students believe that labelling
theory has more validity than other theories because they themselves have been labelled. Even
so, it is absolutely critical to make sufficient evaluations in order to achieve the highest grade
possible.

Related questions

1 How far is it true to say that both the nature and the extent of deviance are socially
constructed?

2 'Deviance is in the eye of the beholder.' Discuss.

3 Assess the argument that the police have the power to choose who and what is deviant.