Focus on social interactions in defining crime.

• A. Freud
• B. Interactionism
• C. Marxism
• D. Left realism

Answer: (B)

The idea here is captured by the interactionist perspective, which sees crime as something defined through social interactions rather than just an objective set of acts. According to this view, whether a behavior is labeled as criminal depends on how people—police, courts, the media, and the public—respond to it and on how individuals are labeled within those interactions. This creates a process of social construction, where the meaning of crime shifts across time and place based on who holds power, what counts as deviance, and how enforcing it is negotiated in everyday encounters. So the focus is on micro-level processes: how definitions of crime emerge through conversations, reactions, and labeling, rather than on fixed rules or inherent wrongdoing.

Freud centers on individual psychology and internal drive, not on how social interactions shape crime labels. Marxism emphasizes capitalism, power, and class structure as causes of crime, rather than how crime is defined through social reactions. Left realism treats crime as a real social issue rooted in inequality but does not center on the labeling process that creates what counts as crime. Thus, the interactionist lens best fits the idea of focusing on social interactions in defining crime.