Download Why Study Education?

Interpretive Approaches
Phenomenology is a view that emphasises the
subjective and introspective nature of our
experience.
Mainly developed through the work of Schutz it
has led to such developments as symbolic
interactionism and ethnomethodology.
These approaches are generally referred to as
interpretive and see the deviant as no different
from other people .
Interpretive Approaches
• Labelling Theory
• Interactionist approaches have been developed into
Labelling Theory by Howard Becker in the 1960’s.
• The basic ideas of Labelling Theory:-
Interpretive Approaches
The basic ideas of Labelling Theory:-
• Deviance (and crime) have to be witnessed by others
•
•
•
•
Certain perceptions of the act have to be made
It has to be seen by others as ‘deviant’ and hence labelled
The ‘deviant’ has to accept the act and the label
Others see the person committing the act as deviant
Interpretive Approaches
Marijuana Users – Becker 1963
Using Marijuana involves one in the process of learning
appropriate behaviour
How to hold it, draw on it etc.
Because it is illegal it has to be done in secret
Users are therefore marginalised from the ‘straight’ world
If caught and prosectuted - could lead to losing jobs etc
Lemert says before being caught -this is primary deviance
- only a few know
After being caught - secondary deviance - this could lead to
a ‘master’ status… ‘Addict’ .. ‘Druggy’ etc
Interpretive Approaches
Criticisms Of Labelling Theory
• Doesn’t explain why some of us are deviants and others aren’t
- why do some take drugs in the first place?
• Ignores the power of some groups to label others
- Young (1971) drug users in Notting Hill were seen as dirty, lazy,
idle scroungers by the Police who represented the establishment
Glamorises deviance
Interpretive Approaches
Ken Plummer’s Defence Of Labelling Theory (1979)
Others fail to see that labelling is about examining social processes
- How labels are applied and their consequences etc
Power is not ignored - Becker says we need to look at who makes
the rules and how labels are applied in different circumstances
Labelling theory never set out to be a universal explanation
Becker himself feels that it has become higher profiled than he
meant it to be
Interpretive Approaches
Ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodologists follow the interpretive line of looking
at how deviant and criminal acts come to be defined
as such.
Cicourel 1976 looked at juvenile deviants passing through
the police and court systems in California. He
referred to a ‘negotiation of justice’ process at each
stage.
I.e. some were sent on to the next stage of the system
while others were let off with warnings etc. He found
that MC youths were more likely to be let off with
cautions as the Police believed their parents would
help to get them back on ‘the right track’
Interpretive Approaches
Ethnomethodology
Atkinson 1978 found a similar process of negotiation
going on when he looked at how coroners made
decisions about whether to classify a death as suicide
or not
Such research again shows that statistics in such areas
need to be taken with care. They are social creations.
Women and Crime
• Upto the 1970’s it could be argued that women were
ignored in any sociological analysis of crime.
•
Carol Smart was one of the first sociologists to apply
a feminist perspective in this area and once again we
have mainly female sociologists looking at a female
issue.
Women and Crime
• The most consistent and dramatic finding …is not that most
criminals are working class but that most criminals are….men!
Cain 1989
• For every 1 woman in prison there are 24 men
• Men commit more crime?
• Men commit different types of crime?
• Women are treated more leniently by the courts?
• These are some of the issues for sociological analysis
Women and Crime
The Chivalry Factor
Some argue that women basically get away with more with the
Police and the Courts. Mott 1983 found that females were more
likely to only get cautions when men received more serious
punishments for the same crime.
• Feminist sociologists have argued that women are treated more
harshly, particularly with regards to sex crimes. Female criminals
– Hindley, West etc. are seen as much worse than their male
counterparts.
Women and Crime
Heidensohn 1985 – gives reasons for women being ignored
• Vicarious Identification
Crime and deviance has been glamorised by male
sociologists
Seen as an exciting area to study - captures the
imagination - secret admiration for deviants
Male Dominance Of Sociology
Males dominate the subject and have monopolised this
area
Women and Crime
• Lower recorded levels of female crime
Less female crime so seen as less important
Most funding has been given to research on males
•
Malestream theories Of Deviance And Research
Stereotypical views of women
Place in the home, little girls are made of ‘sugar and
spice’ etc.
Women and Crime
Pat Carlen 1985– Female Criminality
Carlen et al carried out a study of 39 female prisoners aged 15-46
(mainly WC) who had carried out a range of offences including –
theft, fraud, arson, burglary and violence.
Women who break the law come from all types of backgrounds
But those in prison (like men) are mainly from poorer socio-econ
groups
The more women deviate from their ‘natural roles’ of good mothers
etc - the more they are harshly treated by police and courts
Women are convicted more for prostitution
But same as men for shop lifting
Women do more theft - linked to poverty
More single women parents - theft is for others - children etc
rather than for themselves (unlike men)