Labelling theories Flashcards
Labelling theories
Most people commit deviant and criminal acts but only some are caught and stigmatized for it.
Becker
Self -fulfilling prophecy’s. Becker suggests that the police operate with stereotypical categories.
Selective law enforcement
Agencies of social control use considerable discretion and selective judgement in deciding whether or how to deal with illegal or deviant behaviour.
Effects of labelling
Master status - leads to a ‘deviant career’.
Evaluation of Becker: Negative
Marxists would argue that Becker has failed to examine the links between labelling processes and capitalism and can sometimes be too deterministic.
Braithwaite
Two types of shaming: Disintegrative shaming (should be replaced) and re-integrated shaming. e.g. restorative justice.
Lemert
Primary deviance - Not publicly labelled as such.
Secondary deviance - Once exposed label is attached.
Evaluation of Lemert: Negative
Lemert’s study ignores why people commit primary deviance and it claims it’s not important as it doesn’t change everything.
Social control and negotiated justice: Cicourel
Police officer’s decisions to arrest are influenced by their stereotypes about offenders.
Jock Young - Deviancy amplification - How labelling increases deviance and social control causes deviance.
Police and media can cause an increase in deviance. Deviants become stigmatised and cut off from society. Jock Young studied drug use amongst hippies in London - Increased policy activity led to drug use being driven underground.
Cohen - Media in labelling
Crime perceptions are created by the media. Moral panics and folk devils. Mods and Rockers in 60s.
Evaluation of Cohen: Negative
McRobbie and Thornton argue that Cohen’s idea of moral panic is outdated. This approach gives offenders a kind of passive victim status due to media exaggeration.
