social explanations: crime and anti-social behaviour

Question 1

Define labelling

Answer 1

A theory of how we classify ourselves and others using ‘labels’ which then defines that person.

Question 2

Define self-fulfilling prohpecy

Answer 2

A prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very existence of the prophecy itself

Question 3

define social learning

Answer 3

acquiring behaviours, values and attitudes by observing and imitating other people

Question 4

who advocates for labelling theory ?

Answer 4

Howard Becker (1963)

Question 5

What was Howard Becker interested in ?

Answer 5

not how what makes a particular behaviour criminal or non-criminal, but why some actions become labelled as criminal in the first place.

Question 6

what does Howard Becker argue ?

Answer 6

that powerful groups in society create deviance by making up rules and applying them to people they see as ‘outsiders’ - what counts as criminal behaviour only becomes so when labelled by others. crime is a social construct.

Question 7

based on labelling theory, what happens to someone who is labelled a ‘deviant’ or ‘criminal’ ?

Answer 7

their label will come to define them and will affect how society behaves towards them

Question 8

explain what would happen, in the context of being labelled a ‘criminal’, with self-fulfilling prophecy ?

Answer 8

the ‘criminal’, as labelled by society, comes to see themself in this way because of the stereotyped response of others towards their label, making deviant behaviour more likely.

Question 9

explain observational behaviour in the context of criminal behaviour

Answer 9

• criminal behaviour is learned indirectly by observing and imitating the actions of deviant others

Question 10

contextualise how observational behaviour can lead to criminal behaviour

Answer 10

• e.g., breaking into a car
• the act must be attended to
• recalled
• would-be offender must have the skills and capacity to reproduce the behaviour

Question 11

explain vicarious reinforcement in the context of criminal behaviour

Answer 11

if the criminal behaviour is to be imitated - it must be seen to be rewarded - such as through the acquisition of money, stolen goods etc.

Question 12

explain the role model effect in the context of criminal behaviour

Answer 12

social learning theory is a developmental explanation that can account for the development of criminal behaviour in different ages.

Question 13

explain the effect of role models on criminal behaviour

Answer 13

• young offenders may be especially susceptible to the influence of role models
• more likely if the identification takes place - a young offender may look up to and want to be a gang leader for example - see them as commanding a high status and enjoying a lifestyle of wealth and luxury

Question 14

what is the supporting evidence for self-fulfilling prophecy ?

Answer 14

Jahoda (1954)

Question 15

what took place in Jahoda (1954)

Answer 15

• studied the Ashanti of Ghana where boys are named after the day they are born
• Monday boys = Kwadwo (meant to be even tempered)
• Wednesday boys = Kwadku (meant to be ‘aggressive and volatile’)
• she observed the kwadku to be 3 times more likely to be involved in violent crime than Kwadwo, over a 5-year period

Question 16

what does Jahoda (1954) suggest ?

Answer 16

it suggests that a self-fulfilling prophecy based on cultural expectations had been formed and had influenced the boys’ behaviour

Question 17

what is the competing argument to Jahoda’s study and supporting evidence for self-fulfilling prophecy ?

Answer 17

• study by Zebrowitz et al. (1998) found that boys with a ‘baby face’ were more likely than their mature-face peers to be delinquent and involved in crime

Question 18

what does Zebrowitz et al. (1998) suggest ?

Answer 18

it suggests that the baby faced boys were overcompensating for the perception that they may be ‘weak’ or ‘childlike’, rather than accepting and living up to the ‘baby/innocent’ label

Question 19

what is a weakness of labelling theory ?

Answer 19

it offers only a partial explanation of offending

Question 20

what does labelling theory imply and therefore suggest ?

Answer 20

• it implies that, without labelling, crime would not exist

- therefore someone who has committed a crime, but does not have a label, is not a criminal

Question 21

why is labelling theory problematic ?

Answer 21

most people would agree that serious offences such as murder are more than social constructs, and that murderers are criminals whether they are labelled or not

Question 22

what does labelling theory’s partial explanation suggest ?

Answer 22

it would suggest that labelling theory is too simple to be a single explanation of crime

Question 23

what is another weakness of labelling theory ?

Answer 23

there is limited evidence for labelling as applied to crime

Question 24

what is the problem with the studies that have been conducted investigating labelling theory (and self-fulfilling prophecy)?

Answer 24

• most of the studies have been confined to educational settings, such as Rosenthal and Jacobson
• it may be that the teacher-student relationship is a very particular one in which expectations may have an important bearing on a child’s educational attainment
• it is very hard to replicate these such studies at a societal level in the context of crime

Question 25

what is an application of labelling theory ?

Answer 25

• it may help reduce the negative effects of labelling
• Braithwaite (1989) - societies have lower crime rates and reoffending rates if they communicate shame about crime effectively
• reintegrative shaming is preferable to disintegrative shaming - better when offender is helped back into society than being demonised by it

Question 26

what does the application to labelling theory suggest ?

Answer 26

it suggests that how offenders are labelled may affect how well they retake their place in society

Question 27

what does the further weakness of labelling theory mean ?

Answer 27

it means that there are too many factors that affect the relationship between labelling and crime to study the phenomenon effectively