labelling theories

Question 1

what are the key assumptions of the labelling theory

Answer 1

• reject official statistics on crime
• reject structural causal explanations
• favour in-depth qualitative approaches

Question 2

what does the interactionist theory focus on

Answer 2

• focuses on the way individuals create meaning in their everyday social acts
• micro view of society
• meanings aren’t fixed but are constantly redefined through interactions of ppl with groups
• to understand crime you need to understand the way individuals define their/others’ acts as deviant

Question 3

describe the social construction of crime and deviance

Answer 3

• no fixed meaning –> constructed through experience
• EG: poor use drugs = crime
  vs. rich use drugs = scandal
• deviance is a relative concept - no universal or fixed agreement on ‘right’ or ‘wrong’
  eg: abortions were illegal until 1967 (still are in some countries)

Question 4

describe Becker’s Theory of the social construction of deviance

Answer 4

• what we count as crime is based on subjective decisions made by moral entrepreneurs
• deviance is simply forms of behaviour that powerful agencies of social control label as deviant
• Becker is interested in the labels that are applied to ppls actions and the impact it has on:
  a) How the person sees themself
  b) how others see/treat them

Question 5

give an example of Becker’s social construction if Deviance

Answer 5

• attitudes to drug users keeps changing
• drugs that used to be acceptable are now considered criminal
• who gets to label and who gets labelled depends on status and power in society

Question 6

how do Ethnomethodologists support the interactionist/labelling view

Answer 6

• argue that deviance is based on subjective decision making (social construction)
• thus what one person person might see as deviant another might not

Question 7

describe the agents of social control

Answer 7

• the behaviour of the less powerful is subject to greater surveillance and control by these agents
• Becker suggests that less powerful groups are more likely to be labelled than powerful groups

Question 8

what is some supporting evidence for the agents of social control surveilling the less powerful more than the powerful

Answer 8

‘equality and human rights comission’ claim that the police are 28 times more likely to stop and search black males than white males

Question 9

describe Becker’s “Master status” labelling process

Answer 9

negative label
—> self concept
—> label reinforced
—> master status
—> deviant career

Question 10

describe the consequences of labelling according to Becker

Answer 10

• the process of a person serving time in prison is ‘suffering’ from their convict status
• becomes much harder to seek legitimate employment, buy a house etc.
• more vulnerable to commuting further acts of crime to survive

Question 11

describe a criticism of the consequences of labelling according to Becker

Answer 11

too deterministic —> assumes all who serve prison time will continue to commit crime
—> Pygmalion effect

Question 12

describe Lemert’s description of Primar Deviance

Answer 12

• deviant act that hasn’t been publically labelled
• insignificant acts that have little impact on a person’s status or identity
• eg Speeding ticket

Question 13

Describe Lemert’s description of secondary deviance

Answer 13

• involves being caught and publicly labelled as a criminal
• involves societal reaction
• criminal label often becomes master status that then shapes peoples reactions towards criminal
• provokes further hostile reactions which leads to a SFP