Labelling Theory

Question 1

What does Becker say moral entrepreneurs are?

Answer 1

People who lead a ‘moral crusade’ to change the law in the belief that it will benefit those who it applies to.

Question 2

What does Becker say the 2 effects of the new law are?

Answer 2

1. Creation of the new group of outsiders - outlaws or deviants who break the new rule
2. The creation/ expansion of a social control agency - those who enforce rules and impose labels on offenders eg. police, courts

Question 3

What are the 2 pieces of evidence that supports Beckers ideas on the new law ?

Answer 3

Platt - Idea of juvenile delinquency and youths being viewed as a separate category of offenders with their own courts and specific offences - “Status offences” such as truancy

Becker - Outlawing of Cannabis use in the USA, the moral campaign presented by the federal Bureau of Narcotics was really about extending their sphere of influence

Question 4

Whether a person is arrested, charged or convicted depends on factors such as :

Answer 4

• Their interactions with agencies of social control
• Their appearance, biography or background
• The situation and circumstance of the offence

Question 5

Piliavin and Briar

Answer 5

police decisions to arrest a youth were mainly based on physical cues
such as dress and manner from which they made judgements about the youth’s character

Question 6

cicourel

Answer 6

Typifications
Common sense theory
official statistics

Question 7

Lemert

Answer 7

2 different types of deviance:
primary deviance - acts that are trivial in nature
secondary deviance - result of a social reaction as the individual is stigmatised and excluded

Question 8

Jock young

Answer 8

studied hippie marijuana users in Notting Hill. it was only a minimal part of their culture however police labelled them and they felt like outsiders. this led to them forming a deviant subculture and drug use became more central to their culture
- shows how social control agencies can create deviance

Question 9

define deviance amplification

Answer 9

a process in which the attempts to control deviance leads to an increase in the level of deviance

Question 10

Who looked at deviance amplification and who did he look at?

Answer 10

Stan Cohen -

he looked at ‘mods’ and ‘rockers’ and investigated folk devils, those who are demonised by the media, and moral panic

Question 11

What is the key difference between functionalist theorist and labelling theorist views on deviance ?

Answer 11

functionalist theorists believe that deviance leads to social control, whereas labelling theorists argue that social control leads to deviance

Question 12

Triplett

Answer 12

an increasing tendency to see young people offenders as evil and to be less less tolerant of minor deviance. The state has re-labelled minor status offences such as truancy

Question 13

De Haan

Answer 13

found a similar outcome to Triplett in holland as a result of stigmatisation of young offenders.

Question 14

Braithwaite

Answer 14

identified a more positive role for the labelling process identifying the difference between types of shaming:

Disintegrative shaming - where both the crime and individual is labelled as bad

Reintergrative shaming - just the act is labelled as bad and the social actor isn’t, they are just seen as someone who has done a bad thing

he says that in societies where reintegrative shaming is used with offenders crime rates tend to be lower

Question 15

Why is Braithwaite’s approach more likely to avoid deviancy amplification ?

Answer 15

It avoids the stigmatisation of the offender but makes them aware of their actions

Question 16

Who are the 4 sociologists that talk about mental illness and suicide ?

Answer 16

Douglas
Atkinson
Lemert
Goffman

Question 17

Douglas

Answer 17

interactionist approach to suicide
The fact that a coroner decides whether a death is suicide may produce bias.
Therefore statistics tell us nothing

Question 18

Atkinson

Answer 18

Official statistics are just a record of the labels that coroners attach and we can never understand the meanings that individuals place on their suicide
We should concentrate on coroners knowledge from which they make their verdicts

Question 19

Lemert

Answer 19

Studied paranoia
not everyone fits into groups which leads to primary deviance and they begin to be excluded for being ‘odd’
This negative response is the beginning of secondary deviance.
They begin to discuss the way to deal with this difficult person which confirms his suspicions and paranoia

Question 20

Goffman

Answer 20

study - ‘asylum’
shows the effect of being admitted to a total institution .
on admission the patient undergoes a mortification of self where their identities are lost and replaced with a new one ‘inmate’

Not all ‘inmates’ adopt their new identity

Question 21

What are the 6 evaluation points of the labelling theory ?

Answer 21

1. determinism - once someone is labelled, a deviant career is inevitable
2. The offender gains a victim status - they focus on the negative effects of labels rather than the effect on the victim of the crime
3. Assumes offenders are passive victims of labelling - ignores that some individuals actually choose deviance (functionalism)
4. Implies that without labelling, deviance wouldn’t exist
5. fails to explain primary deviance - why people deviate in the first place before they are labelled
6. tends to focus on less serious crime such as drug-taking