Labelling Theory Flashcards
Moral entrepreneurs
People who lead a moral crusade to change the law in the belief that it will benefit those to whom it is applicable.
Becker
A deviant is someone who The label has been successfully applied
Moral entrepreneurs needed for:
- Creation of outsiders/outlaws/deviance who break the new rules
-Creation or expansion of social control agencies e.g. police to enforce rules and impose labels on offenders
Social control agencies may campaign for change in law to increase own power to redefine behaviour is unacceptable
Who gets labelled
Person is arrested/charge/convicted on factors such as:
– Interaction with social control agencies e.g. police
– Appearance/background/personal biography
– situation and circumstances of the offence
Cicourel- Negotiation of justice
Law-enforcement show class bias. Working class areas people fitted the police type stereotypes.
Cicourel = social control agents within criminal justice system reinforced bias. Justice is not fixed but negotiable e.g. when middle-class youth arrested he is less likely to be charged Because his background/image doesn’t fit the police stereotype / “typical delinquent”
Effects of labelling
Lemert
Primary deviance = acts that have not been labelled publicly.
Secondary deviance = result of societal reaction that is of labelling. Individual labelled then others see him only in terms of the label. This becomes his master status or controlling identity.
May lead to self fufilling prophecy in which individual acts out or lives up to the deviant label thereby becoming what the label says
Deviance amplification
Attempt to control deviance leads to an increase :
Deviance-> moral panic -> press exaggeration -> concern from moral entrepreneurs -> police respond by arresting more and imposing penalties -> this confirmed media reports = more public concern -> spiral of deviance amplification and demonising eg mods and rockers as “folk devils” = more marginalisation and deviant behaviour
Labelling theory has important policy implication
We should avoid publicly name and shame offenders since this is likely to create a perception of them as evil outsiders/excluding them from mainstream society And push them into further deviance
Braithwaite - more positive roles for the labelling process / 2 types of shaming
Disintegrative shaming = Not only the crime but also the criminal is labelled as bad and offender is excluded from society
Re-integrative shaming = say he has done a bad thing rather than he is a bad person. Avoid stigmatising offender but makes aware of negative impact of crime. Encourages others to forgive him and accept him back into society.
