SOCY 275 Lecture Notes - Symbolic Interactionism, Labeling Theory, Nonverbal Communication
Document Summary
How crime and deviance are responded to. Focus on: instructional response, formal response to individual, social response, informal response. Public meaning: what happens when deviance occurs in social life and receives a response formally and informally. Human nature was passive: passive beings forced into being a criminal by reaction of others and societal definition of engaging in crime , doesn"t not seek explanation for causes of crime, does not guarantee label will occur. Social reaction and labeling has influence and we are influenced by how others think about us, we still have say in how we interpret that label. Nature of society: see society as lacking consensus, conflict based approach, social norms and crime are socially constructed, Relativist idea: law tends to benefit economic and social power and penalizes those who are powerless. Probability of being brought under control of criminal justice system becomes a function of wealth and status. Brought upon formal control agents, prisons, cops,