Term 2 Lecture 8- Labelling Theory

Question 1

What are the key readings?

Question 2

What are the subcultural theories?

Answer 2

Thrasher gang theory
William Foote Whyte
Cohen

Question 3

What is the Thrasher gang theory?

Answer 3

That gangs emerge from poor and socially disorganised neighborhoods
That boys join them because there is a lack of opportunity to do other things
That the boys who do join gangs lack skills and the drive to compete with others for jobs

Question 4

What did Whyte focus on?

Answer 4

an Italian slum community, focuses on social structure, social mobility, and the patterns of racketeering and political corruption

Question 5

What did Cohen look at in delinquent boys theory?

Answer 5

Looked at delinquent subcultures and their shared values and beliefs.

Question 6

What is Cohen’s delinquent boys theory?

Answer 6

There is a lack of means of achieving social status via conventional roots. We form groups such as gangs that subvert conventional aspirations and value of how the status is achieved

Question 7

What are the different subcultures according to Cohen?

Answer 7

Non-utilitarian
Malicious
Negativistic
Versatile
Hedonism/hedonistic
Resistant

Question 8

What are the 3 types of gangs according to Cohen?

Answer 8

Violent conflict subcultures
Drug Subcultures
Semi-professional theft subcultures

Question 9

What is the focus from early labelling theories?

Answer 9

Social reactions to criminal acts and meanings individuals assign to social actions

Question 10

What did George Herbert Mead say about how deviance occurs?

Answer 10

Individuals become deviant through social processes
Societal reactions to deviance have implications for those labelled deviant, and for society

Question 11

What are Mead’s views on interactionism?

Answer 11

Self-perception develops through interaction & communication with others which is shaped by reactions of others and perceptions of reaction
Then we become socialised

Question 12

Who found the looking glass self theory?

Answer 12

Cooley

Question 13

What is the looking glass self theory?

Answer 13

The looking-glass self describes the process wherein individuals base their sense of self on how they believe others view them

Question 14

Why does deviance occur according to the interactionism theory?

Answer 14

It is the result of a process of social interaction. We are labelled a problem and seen by others this way

Question 15

What does interactionism focus on?

Answer 15

How individual interpretations of social situations will influence behaviour

Question 16

What is the labelling theory?

Answer 16

People showing deviant behaviour and then are labelled that way by society

Question 17

What happens when people are labelled deviant in the labelling theory?

Answer 17

They will internalise and adopt the behaviours of deviance

Question 18

What are the main factors in societal reaction theory?

Answer 18

Power, reaction and control

Question 19

What is deviance seen as in the labelling theory?

Answer 19

Acts defined as deviant in particular societies and for specific reasons

Question 20

What did Edwin Lemert focus on?

Answer 20

The sociology of deviance.
He argued that societal reactions to deviant behaviour, rather than the behaviour itself, play a significant role in shaping individuals’ paths into crime and deviance.

Question 21

Who looked at primary and secondary deviance?

Answer 21

Edwin Lemert

Question 22

What is primary deviance?

Answer 22

Initial acts of rule-breaking that may not lead to a deviant identity

Question 23

What is secondary deviance?

Answer 23

Which occurs when individuals internalise societal labels and incorporate deviance into their self-concept

Question 24

What did Becker focus on?

Answer 24

The process of deviance rather than the causes

Question 25

What does Becker argue about deviance?

Answer 25

Becker argues that deviance is not inherent in certain behaviours but is instead socially constructed through the reactions of others

Question 26

What are moral entrepreneurs according to Becker?

Answer 26

Rule makers who label users as deviant

Question 27

What is the amplification of deviance?

Answer 27

Attempting to control deviant behaviour can increase it as people labelled deviant feel stigmatised and therefore commit more extreme behaviours

Question 28

How does the media cause deviance?

Answer 28

The media exaggerates the seriousness of deviance and makes it newsworthy

Question 29

What impact can the media have?

Answer 29

Can cause pressure for the government for action against the perceived threat