1.2 LABELLING THEORY Flashcards
How does Howard Becker (1963) define deviance?
“Deviancy is not a quality of the act a person commits but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an ‘offender’. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label.”
What is labelling?
Labelling relates to social groups creating deviance by creating rules and applying them to particular people whom they label as ‘outsiders’. By labelling certain people as criminal or deviant encourages them to become more so.
In the early 1960s, how many heterosexual students did John Kitsuse (1962) interview?
75
What did the findings of Kitsuse’s work show?
There was no agreed definition of what constituted a homosexual ‘advance’ - it was open to negotiation.
What can labelling theory be criticised for?
Failing to explain the causes of primary deviance
What does labelling theory tend to assume?
Labelling is either arbitrary/based on the biases of those who do the labelling
What two types of deviance does Edwin Lemert distinguish between?
‘Primary’ and ‘secondary’ deviance
What is the difference between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ deviance?
Primary deviance is rule-breaking, while secondary deviance is the consequence of the response of others.
When does a self-fulfilling prophecy take place?
When something occurs simply because it has been predicted
Why does labelling lead some people to join subcultures?
Individuals who have all been subjected to labelling may begin to feel a sense of shared identity being rejected by wider society, they turn to others who are seen as deviant or criminal.
What do labelling theorists argue that laws are a reflection of?
Someone’s initiative - ‘moral entrepreneurs’
Give two examples of moral entrepreneurs.
- The British MP Tom Watson was important in campaigning about the hacking of mobile phones by journalists.
- Becker’s most famous example is his study of the outlawing of cannabis use in the USA in 1937.
