Examples Of Symbolic Interactionism

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Researchers questioned how and why certain people became defined as criminal or deviant. Many theorists viewed criminals not as evil persons who engaged in wrong acts but as individuals who had a criminal status placed upon them by both the criminal justice system and the community at large. From this point of view, criminal actions themselves are not significant; it is the social reaction to them that are (Bernard, Snipes, and Gerould, 2010). This point of view is called Symbolic Interactionism. Developed by George Herbert Mead, Charles Cooley, and Herbert Blumer in the early twentieth century, they claimed that deviance creates a process of social definition which involves the response from others to an individual's behavior; which is key to how an individual views himself. “Vold’s Theoretical Criminology” describes the process of segregation creates "outsiders", who are outcast from society, and then begin to associate with other individuals who have also been cast out. When more and more people begin to think of these individuals as deviants, they respond to them as such; thus the deviant reacts to such a response by continuing to engage in the behavior society now expects from them (Bernard, Snipes, and Gerould, 2010).
This theory is the process of interaction through the arrangement of meanings for individuals (Wheldon, 2007). Interactionism is an incredibly important concept to help describe the complexities of criminal behavior. Not only does this theory determine our interactions with one another, but also applies a shared understanding amongst humans as to what behaviors are deemed deviant. This theory has three major tenets: Meaning, Language, and Thought (Wheldon, 2007). Each tenet explains the meaning about the creati...

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...er the individual can start to shed the current sex offender label and establish a society approved label.
Conclusion
The Symbolic Interaction Theory is a theory that can best explain why crime occurs. When someone deviates from the path society had intrically paved, they are caste outside the majority and thus, given the label of criminal. It is through this push outside the group that a person is subjected to either accepting their label as a criminal or must fight their way back into the group through the means of policy implications like rehabilitation programs. Sadly, if the person does not successfully complete treatment, they will remain outside the group and will be forced to abide by their label as a criminal. This theory sums up the way society itself creates criminals therefore making it one of the most significant theories to explain crime in America.

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