Consequences of labelling Flashcards
primary deviance:
deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled, as it is so widespread and often trivial i.e. fare dodging mostly goes uncaught.
These acts are not part of an organised deviant way of life, so offenders can easily rationalise them as a ‘moment of madness’.
They have little significance for the individual’s status or self-concept, as they do not see themselves as deviant.
secondary deviance:
Secondary deviance is labelled, and thus is a result of societal reaction.
Being caught and publicly labelled as a criminal can involve being stigmatised, shamed, humiliated, shunned or excluded from normal society.
Once an individual is labelled, others may come to see this person only in terms of their label. This becomes their master status.
Master status
The master status becomes a controlling identity that overrides all others. In the eyes of society, they are no longer a father, mother, or colleague they are now a thief, a murderer etc.
what is secondary deviance likely to lead to?
Secondary deviance is likely to provoke further hostile reactions from society and reinforce the deviant’s ‘outsider’ status.
This may lead to more deviance, and a deviant career.
They also may join a deviant subculture.
This is because it becomes their overriding personality trait and they are unable to get a job due to their record, stigma, poverty, homelessness ect so they internalise their label and turn to a deviant career
Jack Young - secondary deviance
Young (1971) looked into the effects of and the societal reaction to being labelled as deviant, and how it may lead to further deviant acts.
He carried out research into the hippie marijuana users in Notting Hill during the 1960s.
He Young that as the police began targeting a group of ‘hippies’, which served to widen the gap between them and conventional society. This resulted in drug taking, which had already been an exterior activity, becoming a symbol of the groups’ defiance against the police and also became part of their status.
This consequently caused a deviant subculture to develop, and the hippies to internalise their label and become marginalised from society.
Deviance amplification sample:
The deviance amplification spiral is a term labelling theorists use to describe a process in which the attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in the level of deviance i.e. the hippies described by Young (1971). the riots in the summer
Stanley Cohen - mods and rockers
Cohen conducted a study on societal reaction to the ‘mods and rockers’ disturbances at English seaside resorts in the 1960’s.
Press exaggeration and distorted reporting of events began a moral panic, with growing public concern, and with moral entrepreneurs calling for a ‘crackdown.’
The police responded by arresting more youths and the courts imposed harsher penalties. This supported the media’s reaction and provoked even greater public concern, leading to an upward spiral of deviance amplification, as the mods and rockers were seen as folk devils, which led to greater deviance.
The media exaggerated this threat and it is argued if there was an international scandal, there would be no riots that weekend, the media made it sensationalised
Moral Panic
a wave of public concern about and imaginary or exaggerate threat to society stirred up be sensationalised reporting.
