Response 1
The symbolic interactionism theory is, in my opinion, far from simplistic. It actually explains the fact that like all other rights or wrongs, crime and deviancy are subjective social constructs. This is the main reason the associated negative sanctions fail to curb the behaviour. Gay people, for instance, simply choose to ignore perceptions in some societies that their sexuality is deviant, because they know these perceptions are subjective and possibly wrong. While for instance murder is criminal in many modern societies for instance, there are communities that killed their own as human sacrifices to gods. Similarly, soldiers may kill combatants in warm but the ‘civilized’ world does not see this as murder. While both these instances involve one human being taking another’s life, society has constructed meanings that justify the same thing, and castigate it. It is true therefore, that deviancy is simply a label, which is a reflection of what society believes to be proper or wrong, but members of the same society can create different rationalizations and hence become wilfully deviant. Effectively, in order to truly combat crime, clear laws that are founded on objective rationalizations must be enacted, coupled by continued engagement of the community to ensure that they subscribe to the common beliefs.
Response 2
Organized criminal activities are practiced according to predetermined laws and rites. Criminal gangs have highly organized rites and rules, which guide their individual and collective conduct. The fact that your friend did not tell you they did not belong to a gang may also because they had been sworn to secrecy. I agree with you that the theory may not hold where behaviour is self-motivated. To begin with, learning criminal activities occurs within intimate personal groups. Learning covers motives, attitudes and rationalizations that accompany criminal activities. I however think that the differential association theory ignores the fact that the motivation for criminal activities may originate from many factors that may are not, or do not have to be socialized. For instance, poverty social deprivation and lawlessness creates the right conditions for criminal gangs to thrive. In many instances, there is a rational reason for engagement in criminal activities. For instance, gangs may only leave the brotherhood in a coffin or if they get a baby, because gangs are afraid leaving members will give them away. If one leaves because of a child, then they know he has something that will make him keep the secrets.
