2. The effects of Labelling

Question 1

Outline 2 types of deviance-Lemert

Interactionist

Answer 1

Lemert Distinguishes between two types of deviance:
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Primary deviance
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Secondary deviance

Question 2

Outline primary deviance-Lemert

Answer 2

deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled as criminal.

Question 3

Outline Secondary deviance-Lemert

Answer 3

secondary deviance is the result of societal reaction. Being caught & publicly labelled as criminal can involve stigmatized, shamed or excluded from normal society.

• Once an individual has been labelled, people may only see him according to his master status (whereby a criminal is defined by their deviant act), which may lead to a deviant career because they struggle to find employment.
• This can provoke a crisis for individuals self concept .
• One way to resolve this crisis is for the individual to accept the deviant label. Leading to SFP in which individual lives up to deviant label

Lemert illustrates the idea that is is not the act itself but the hostile reaction from society that creates this deviance

Question 4

Outline the Deviance amplification spiral

Answer 4

is a term labelling theorists use to describe the process in which the attempts to control deviance leads to an increase in level of deviance -leading to greater attempt to control it

Question 5

Outline Braithwaites view on labelling & criminal Justice policy

Answer 5

Braithwaite

identified a positive role for labelling process

He Distinguish between types of shaming:
* Reintegrative shaming
* Disintegrative shaming

Question 6

Outline reintegrative shaming:

Braithwaite

Answer 6

punishes them in a way that strengthens their bonds with society.
The policy of reintegrative shaming avoids stigmatizing the offender as evil while at same time making them aware of the negative impact of their actions on others & encourages others to forgive them, & avoids excluding them from wider society & pushing them into secondary deviance
Braithwaite argues that crime rates tend to be lower in societies where reintegrative shaming is the dominant way of dealing with offenders

Question 7

Outline Disintegrative shaming

Braithwaite

Answer 7

punishment which isolates the individual and causes secondary deviance.

Question 8

Evaluations of Labelling theory

Answer 8

• Labelling theory is deterministic, implying that once someone is labelled, a deviant career is inevitable
• Emphasis on negative effects of labelling gives offender victim status-realist sociologists argue that it ignores the real victims of crime
• By assuming that offenders are passive victims of labelling , it ignores the fact that individuals may actively choose deviance
• It recognizes the role of power in creating deviance but fails to analyze the source of this power as a result it focuses on middle range officials such as policeman who apply the labels rather than on the capitalist class who make rules in first place.