Who gets labelled as a criminal and why Starter Who dun it On the night of the 20 th September the suite of the Matthews Industries was gutted by fire Police and Fire Brigade found that the outer door had been forced and no trace could be found of a petty cash box containing ID: 543090
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Slide1
Interactionist theory on crime
Who gets labelled as a criminal and why? Slide2
Starter – ‘Who dun it?’
On the night of the 20
th
September the suite of the Matthews Industries was gutted by fire. Police and Fire Brigade found that the outer door had been forced and no trace could be found of a petty cash box containing £500. The fire is an obvious case of arson since there is evidence that petrol had been splashed about in the office. No fingerprints had been found except for those who work in and around the offices every day. Although an outsider may be responsible, the police are considering the following as suspects.
Read the cards and discuss, in pairs, who you think committed the offence. Consider their possible motives. Justify your choice. Slide3
Objectives
All will be able to outline the Interactionist theory’s explanations of crime by
working in groups of 4
to make posters about a particular Interactionist study into crime.
Most will be able to
work independently
to
draw a flow diagram
to show, with an example,
how labelling can lead to crime
.
Some will be able to
work independently
to
draw a flow diagram
to show
how labelling can lead to crime
.Slide4
Interactionist perspective
Interactionism focuses on studying how human behaviour is influenced by interaction between individuals. Interactionists argue that:
The vast majority of people have broken the law and are, therefore, criminals.
Some groups, e.g. working class, ethnic minority, men and the young are more likely to be labelled as criminal by those with power in society.
So, for Interactionist, the question is not ‘why do people break the law?’, the question is, if everyone breaks the law, ‘why are only some labelled as criminal?’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-UBjL1zlgM
Slide5
Task 1
Marketplace Work in groups of 4.
Read the handout about the Interactionist theory on crime, pay special attention to the real life example of a sociological study that proves the Interactionist theory.
Make a poster for the class about that study.
Include:
The name of the Sociologist.
Research method used to carry out research.
Findings of the study.
Explanation of how these findings back up the Interactionist theory on crime.
Images which relate to the study.
You have 20 minutes. Slide6
Task 2
Fill in the worksheet with information from your poster. You have 5 minutes.Choose one member of your group to be the ‘seller’ – this person needs to have excellent presentational skills. The remaining 3 members of the group will be the ‘buyers’.
The seller has to stay with your poster and ‘sell’ your knowledge to ‘buyers’ from other groups.
The ‘buyers’ have to go to the other groups to ‘buy’ their knowledge – listen to the ‘seller’s’ explanation and fill in the worksheet. Judge how good their product (knowledge, poster, explanation, etc.) was and pay them accordingly. The group that makes the most money wins!
You have 10 minutes.Slide7
Task 3
The ‘buyers’ have to return to their original groups and take turns to explain what they found out. You must explain, not just let them copy your notes!
Everyone else has to fill in the worksheet.
You have 15 minutes. Slide8
Task 4
Use the example of a one-off instance of cannabis
use
to show how
labelling leads to a person becoming a drug addict
. Use key words and explanations.
A teenage boy smokes a small
amount of cannabis.
He is caught by a teacher and
is labelled as a ‘druggie’.
Self-fulfilling prophecy – he starts to think of himself as
a drug addict.
Master status – the label ‘druggie’ becomes his main characteristic. Everyone thinks of him as a ‘druggie’.
Criminal career – he takes
more and more drugs and
steals to get money.Slide9
Extension
Draw a flow diagram to show how labelling leads to an increase in deviance
.
An individual commits an act.
The act is labelled as deviant.
Self-fulfilling prophecy - the individual starts to believe
the label is true.
Master status – the label becomes the main characteristic.
Criminal career – the individual starts to continually act in a
deviant manner.Slide10
Learning journey
Difference between crime and deviance, legal and illegal deviance
Social control (informal and formal)
Media representations of crime
How do Sociologists study crime: victim and self-reporting studies?
Who breaks the law? – age,
ethnicity and gender
Explaining crime – biological vs. sociological theories: peer group pressure, opportunity, socialisation
Official crime statistics – detecting, reporting and recording of crime, the dark figure of crime
Victims of crime, government solutions to crime, social problems of youth crime and racism
Revision and end of Topic exam question
Who breaks the law? –social class and locality
Explaining crime –labelling theory and subcultural theory
Explaining crime –Functionalist theory and Marxist theorySlide11
Review
Which of these is more likely to be labelled as a deviant?Why? Slide12
Drug use Slide13
Wearing facial masks Slide14
Youth groups Slide15
Pregnancy Slide16
Homework
Complete the three tasks on the worksheet about each of the three scenarios.Deadline –