The effects of labelling

Question 1

Master status and secondary deviance

Answer 1

When a deviant is caught and publicly labelled, others begin to see them as nothing more than their label. This results in an identity crisis for the individual, that they resolve by accepting the label and seeing themselves how they are seen by the rest of society. Results in a self fulfilling prophecy where the individual lives up to their label

Question 2

Deviant career

Answer 2

When an individual accepts their label and continues to deviate, they are met with more hostility from society, reinforcing the label and leading to more deviance as they are unable to live amongst the ‘upright’ members of society and therefore seek out other deviants for support, joining a deviant subculture that offers them career opportunities and role models.

Question 3

Lemert and Youngs central idea

Answer 3

Serious deviance is not created by the initial act, but societys hostile reaction to it. The processes supposedly supposed to promote law abidance actually produce the opposite effect.

Question 4

Downes and Rocks criticism of labelling

Answer 4

It is impossible to predict whether a labelled individual will follow a deviant career as they are free to choose to not deviate further.

Question 5

Deviance amplification spiral

Answer 5

The attempt to control deviance results in an increase in the level of deviance, which leads to greater attempts to control it resulting in even further increases in the level.

Question 6

Folk devils and moral panics

Answer 6

Cohens study

Press exaggeration and distorted reporting began a moral panic with moral entrepreneurs calling for a crackdown on deviant behaviour. This lead to more arrests and harsher penalties, confirming the truth of the original panic, provoking more public concern.

The demonising of the mods and rockers as ‘folk devils’ alienated them from society, resulting in more deviant behaviour

Question 7

Braithwaite

Answer 7

Reintegrative shaming where the deviant act is labelled and not the person, avoids stigmatising the offender but still makes them aware of the wrongness of their action and how they have affected others, and encourages others to forgive them. This allows the offender to reintegrate into society and avoids secondary deviance.

Disintegrative shaming where the criminal is labelled as bad and excluded from society