labelling theory and crime

Question 1

what does labelling theory say abt crime?

Answer 1

• most people commit crime but only some art caught and stigmatised
• there is no real difference between deviants and non deviants
• interactionists seek to understand social reaction to C+D
• Becker= deviant behaviour is behaviour that people label
• from interactionist perspective there IS no deviance, jsut the acts we label as such

Question 2

what does labelling theory focus on within C+D?

Answer 2

1. interaction btween deviants and those who define them as deviant
2. the process whereby rules are selectively enforced and why the response to rule breaking isn’t always the same
3. consequences of being labelled as ‘deviant’ within society and oneself
4. the individual circumstances in which a person can become set apart and labelled as deviant
5. an analysis of who has the power to attach deviant labels and make them stick

Question 3

Becker+ labelling of C+D

Answer 3

• acts are only deviant because society deems them to be
• once it has been labelled as deviant, this label becomes attached to the individual
• based upon the initial deviant action, negative labels are attached, this then becomes the master status

labelled deviant -> blocked opportunities -> further deviance + deviant career

• governments apply labels to deviant activities by criminalising them (moral entrepeneurs)
• he outlined how marijuana use was deemed deviant in the 1960s

Question 4

evaluation of becker’s labelling of c+d

Answer 4

• focus on underdog = good
• doesn’t explain how initial crime occured, or impact
• romanticises and doesn’t explain why crime occurs

Question 5

Cicourel- negotiation of justice (and example)

Answer 5

• some people are better equipped to talk themselves out of trouble
• they can use pay offs, cultural capital, upper class habitus, defliction, elaborated code, economic capital, family support
• study of californian police and juvenile offenders found that they were more likely to arrest people who were poor, ethnic minorities with bad schooling
• typification= they have a criminal ‘type’

Lavinia Woodward- an Oxford student who stabbed her boyfriend and walked free, she was upper class and loved by teachers, as well as being smart and innocent looking

Question 6

Edwin Lemert (1972)

Answer 6

• a single deviant act is the primary deviance and the label ‘deviant’ results in further, secondary deviance.
• once the label is applied, there is a social condemnation, everyone’s response to it
• wealth and status help you get out of secondary deviance

Question 7

Jock Young

Answer 7

• being labelled as deviant creates a self-fulfilling prohpecy
• he noted in the 1960s that hippies used to dope as part of their lifestyle, once they were labelled as dope users, they used it as ‘the’ symbol rather than ‘a’ symbol of their difference to everyone else.

Question 8

Braithwaite

Answer 8

disintegrative shaming vs reintegrative shaming (not about the person but about the choices they have made)

Question 9

definitions- moral entrepeneur

Answer 9

someone who launches a crusade against a labelled group

Question 10

definitions- folk devils

Answer 10

Stan Cohen- people we are persuaded to fear, moral panic originated by the media.
Mods and Rockers 1960s were demonised

Question 11

definitions- deviancy amplification spiral

Answer 11

if you label someone as deviant, this can encourage negative feelings and lead to more deviance