labelling Flashcards
who came up with status frustration
cohen
who came up with drift theory
matza
explain cohen - status frustration
focused on wc boys who failed at school - resulted in low status
- response to this was formation of subcultures or gangs with values reverse to mainstream society - alternative status hierarchy where deviant acts gain status
alternative status hierarchy
cohen -
offers boys alternative status that they can achieve having failed in legitimate opportunity structure
boys can create their own illegal opportunity structures (status from deviant acts)
Explain Cloward and Ohlin’s three subcultures
Found that different subcultures respond in different ways to the lack of legitimate opportunities;
criminal subcultures - criminal career ladder - develops in more stable wc areas
conflict subcultures - loosely organised gangs in disorganised areas - violence - earn status by winning ‘turf’
retreatist subcultures - double failures - illegal drug use - homeless
Millers focal concerns
wc are socialised into distinct values that make deviant behaviour more likely - ‘focal concerns’
- excitement, toughness, idependance, fatalism, trouble etc
Nightingales subcultural theory
applies ideas to ethnicity not just class
- studies american black youths - excluded from obtaining american dream legitimately (economically, politically, racially)
- link to education
explain Hebdige’s theory on british marxists
wc subcultures are cultures of resistance. they take objects from other cultures/ eras and give them secret meanings to utilise them as a way of resisting mainstream society
Hebdige’s 3 examples of wc using clothing to demonstrate resistance
teddy boys - suit and booted look to mock middle class who think they are ‘social superiors’
punks - controversial and went against establishment - combined objects from diff contexts such as sexual bondage and swatstikas
skinheads- recreated wc culture and exaggerated masculinity and aggression to promote social disorder and rebellion
explain matzas drift theory
most ppl drift in and out of crime and it is not a distinct way of life
- we all have deviant values but use techniques of neutralisation to justify behaviour eg denial of responsibility
examples of technicques of neutralisation (drift theory)
(4)
denial of responsibility
denial of victim
condemnation of condemners
appeal to higher loyalties (did it for my country)
4 social constructs of crime
situational
historical
cross cultural
role/position of the person (military)
what do labelling theorists say on crime
no behaviour is wrong until someone else says it. no act is inherently or naturally criminal
explain becker on moral entrupreneurs
moral entrepreneurs determine what is acceptable in society
ruling class. gov etc law makers
‘status’ offences- crime that are only labelled as a crime depending on age of person or other characterisstics (ethnicity)
explain Cicourel and the negotiation of justice
labels create typifications
‘common sense theory’ ‘crime caused from broken homes ‘ so we have a image of typical offender
typifications lead to selective law enforcement
