Sociology is the systematic study of society and social interaction. In order to carry out their studies, sociologists identify cultural patterns and social forces and determine how they affect individuals and groups. They also develop ways to apply their findings to the real world.
for an offence, defined as a “young offender,” processed by the criminal justice
system, and then introduced to the criminal subculture through contact with
experienced convicts is told from the subjective point of view of the young person.
The significance of labelling theory is to show that individuals are not born deviant
or criminal, but become criminal through an institutionalized symbolic interaction
with authorities. As Becker says:
…social groups create deviance by making rules whose infraction creates deviance, and by
applying those roles to particular people and labelling them as outsiders. From this point of view,
deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application
by other of rules and sanctions to an “offender.” The deviant is one to whom that label has been
successfully applied; deviant behavior is behaviour that people so label (1963).
Studies that use the symbolic interactionist perspective are more likely to use
qualitative research methods, such as in-depth interviews or participant observation,
because they seek to understand the symbolic worlds in which research subjects live.
Criticism
Research done from this perspective is often scrutinized because of the difficulty of
remaining objective. Others criticize the extremely narrow focus on symbolic
interaction. Proponents, of course, consider this one of its greatest strengths.
One of the problems of sociology that focuses on micro-level interactions is that it
is difficult to generalize from very specific situations, involving very few
individuals, to make social scientific claims about the nature of society as a whole.
The danger is that, while the rich texture of face-to-face social life can be examined
in detail, the results will remain purely descriptive without any explanatory or
analytical strength. In a similar fashion, it is very difficult to get at the historical
context or relations of power that structure or condition face-to-face symbolic
interactions. The perspective on social life as an unstructured and unconstrained
domain of agency and subjective meanings has difficulty accounting for the ways
that social life does become structured and constrained.
Making Connections: The Big Picture
A Global Culture?
Sociologists around the world are looking closely for signs of what would be an unprecedented
event: the emergence of a global culture. In the past, empires such as those that existed in China,
Europe, Africa, and Central and South America linked people from many different countries, but
those people rarely became part of a common culture. They lived too far from each other, spoke
different languages, practiced different religions, and traded few goods. Today, increases in
communication, travel, and trade have made the world a much smaller place. More and more
people are able to communicate with each other instantly—wherever they are located—by
telephone, video, and text. They share movies, television shows, music, games, and information
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