Labelling theory Flashcards
Labelling theory
-argues that no act is inherently criminal or deviant in itself- in all situations and at all times, but it only comes to be so when others label it as such
-is not the nature of the act that makes it deviant, but the nature of society’s reactions to the act
‘Social groups create deviance by creating the rules, whose infraction (breaking) constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders’ (BECKER)
-a deviant is simply someone whom the label has been successfully applied
-deviant behaviour is simply behaviour that people so label
-deviance is therefore a social construction
Moral entrepreneurs; Becker
-people who lead a moral ‘crusade’ to change the law
-The new law usually has two effects:
-The creation of a new group of ‘outsiders’ - outlaw, or deviants who break the new rule (vs group of insiders) e.g. Platt: ‘juvenile delinquency’ -> ‘juveniles’ established as a separate category of offenders with its own courts’- cave courts power to enforce wider social control over now ‘status offences’ (crime only because of age)
-The creation or expansion of a social control agency (e.g. Police, courts, probation officers etc) to enforce the rule and impose labels on them
Why does not everyone who commits an offence punished for it?
Whether a person is arrested charged and convicted depends on:
-Their interactions with agencies of social control
-Their appearance, background and personal biography
-situation and circumstances of the offence
Selective law enforcement
-Becker argues that agent of social control use considerable discretion and selective judgement in deciding whether and how to deal with illegal behaviour
-Suggests that police operate with pre-existing conceptions and stereotypes, which influence how they deal with crime they come across
CICOUREL: the negotiation of justice
-found that officers ‘typifications’ (common sense, theories, or stereotypes of what the typical delinquent is like) led them to concentrate on certain ‘types’
-The result is the law enforcement, sharing class bias (in working class areas, people fit these typifications most closely)-> let the police patrolling these areas, more intensively, resulting in more arrest and confirming their stereotypes
-Found agents of social control within the criminal justice system reinforce this behaviour e.g. Probation officers have the common sense knowledge that juvenile delinquency was caused by broken homes, poverty, and lack parenting- tended to see those from such backgrounds as likely to defend in the future and were less likely to support non-custodial sentences for them
Why does Cicourel believe that justice is not fixed but is negotiable?
if the criminal did not fit the peoples typification (e.g. A middle-class youth) they are less likely to be charged and the parents could also negotiate successfully on his behalf
-More likely to be counselled, warned and released > prosecuted
Labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy
-Becker argues that the labelling process and societies reaction to criminals can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy, and thus a ‘ deviant career’
-Those labelled as a criminal will go onto face rejection from many social groups and become placed as an ‘ outsider’ society
-Many legitimate opportunities become limited to them (e.g good jobs) because of their criminal label and have to resort to crime
-They may join other delinquents, who they identify with who provide them with support and understanding
-Societal reaction and application of deviant labels produces more deviance than they prevent
-by labelling someone as a criminal, they are more likely to go on and commit more criminal acts
Cicourel: Topic versus resource
-statistics do not give us a valid picture of patterns of crime so cannot be used as a resource (facts)
-we should investigate the processes that created the statistics as these will shed light on the control agencies and how they process and label certain types of people as criminal, so should be treated as a topic for sociologist to investigate
The social construction of crime
-interactionist, believe that statistics are socially constructed
-At each stage the agents of social control (police) make decisions about whether or not to proceed to the next stage
-This depends on the label they attach and the stereotypes they hold about the crime or him/her
-Statistics, therefore only tell us about the activities of the police and persecutions> then the amount of crime and society, or who commits
The dark figure of crime
The difference between the official statistics and the real rate of crime
-we do not know for certain how much crime goes undetected unreported and unrecorded
Alternative methods to official statistics
-victim surveys
-self-report studies
BUT limitations:
): people may exaggerate, conceal, or forget when asked if they have committed a crime or have been a victim of one
): usually only include a selection of generally less serious offenders
Lemert
-distinguish between two types of deviance:
-Primary deviance
-Secondary deviance
Primary deviance
deviants acts that have not been labelled as so e.g. Fair dodging- widespread and unlikely to have a single cause, and usually a ‘ moment of madness’
Secondary deviance
-Deviant that have been publicly labelled as deviance- may face stigmatisation, humiliation, excluded from normal society
-Once an individual is labelled, others may come to see him only in terms of the label ( BECOMES HIS MASTER STATUS) - controls their identity and how others see them
-some criminals may respond to this by accepting this label, creating a self fulfilling prophecy, leading them to having a deviant career
