SOC 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Juvenile Delinquency, Labeling Theory, Symbolic Interactionism

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 104
• Professor: Sal Guzzo

Document Summary

Sociology aims at understanding and explaining human behaviour. Sociologists use theory to understand and explaining human behaviour. It can also be referred to as social construcionism. Interacionists try to understand and explain human behaviour by focusing on two concepts: So, if you want to understand human behaviour, don"t focus on external factors, but instead focus on the relaionship between people and study how they interact. It is through the interacion with other people that we become who we are. Example: if you want to understand why some individuals are deviant, don"t focus on external factors like poverty in the community, but instead focus on the relaionship between people and study how they interact with each other. It is through the interacion with other people that some become deviant while others do not. According to interacionists, society and culture exists when people internalize symbols and the shared meaning of symbols. People use symbols to communicate and communicaion requires interacion.