Primary and Secondary Deviance Flashcards
What types of deviance does Lemert distinguish between?
Primary and secondary deviance.
What is primary deviance?
Deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled.
What are primary deviant act not part of?
An organised deviant way of life, so offenders can easily rationalise them away, e.g. as a ‘moment of madness’.
What does primary deviance have little significance for?
The individual’s status or self-concept.
What is secondary deviance the result of?
Societal reaction.
What does being caught and publicly labelled as a criminal result in?
Being excluded from society.
What happens once an individual is labelled?
Others may come to see them only in terms of the label.
What does this label become?
Their master status.
What can this provoke a crisis for?
The individual’s self concept.
How can this crisis be resolved?
The individual must accept the deviant label and see themselves as the world sees them.
What does this lead to?
A self-fulfilling prophecy, in which the individual lives up to their deviant label.
What does Lemert refer to the further deviance that results from acting out the label?
Secondary deviance.
What is secondary deviance likely to provoke?
Further hostile reactions from society and reinforce the deviants ‘outsider’ status.
