Crime is Sociology Constructed — An act which harms an individual or society else only becomes criminal if those in power label that act as criminal. Labelling has real consequences — it can lead to deviancy amplification, the self-fulfilling prophecy and deviant careers. Rather than taking the definition of crime for granted, labelling theorists are interested in how certain acts come to be defined or labelled as criminal in the first place. Interactionists argue that there is no such thing as an inherently deviant act — in other words there is nothing which is deviant in itself in all situations and at all times, certain acts only become deviant in certain situations when others label them as deviant.
Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label. Howard Becker illustrates how crime is the product of social interactions by using the example of a fight between young people. In a low-income neighbourhood, a fight is more likely to be defined by the police as evidence of delinquency, but in a wealthy area as evidence of high spirits. The acts are the same, but the meanings given to them by the audience in this case the public and the police differ. Those who have the power to make the label stick thus create deviants or criminals.
Becker provides a more extreme example in his book The Outsiders — in this he draws on a simple illustration of an anthropological study by anthropologist Malinowski who describes how a youth killed himself because he hand been publicly accused of incest. When Malinowski had first inquired about the case, the islanders expressed their horror and disgust.
But, on further investigation, it turned out that incest was not uncommon on the island, nor was it really frowned upon provided those involved were discrete. However, if an incestuous affair became too obvious and public, the islanders reacted with abuse and the offenders were ostracised and often driven to suicide.
To be clear — in the above example, everyone knows that incest goes on, but if people are too public about it and possibly if they are just disliked for whatever reason they get publicly shamed for being in an incestuous relationship. In summary — deviance is not a quality that lies in behaviour itself, but in the interaction between the person who commits an act and those who respond to it. From this point of view, deviance is produced by a process of interaction between the potential deviant and the wider public both ordinary people and agencies of social control.
Looking at how drug laws have changed over time, and how they vary from country to country to country is a very good way of looking at how the deviant act of drug-taking is socially constructed…. Meanwhile — in some states in America, such as Colorado, things seem to be moving in the other direction — it is now legal to grow, sell and smoke Weed — meaning that a whole new generation of weed entrepreneurs have suddenly gone from doing something illegal to something legal, and profitable too!
Discussion Question. Do you agree with the idea that there is no such thing as an inherently deviance act? Work your way through the list of deviance acts below and try to think of contexts in which they would not be regarded as deviant.
Back to Labelling theory proper — the key idea here is that not everyone who commits an offence is punished for it. Whether a person is arrested, charged and convicted depends on factors such as:. This leads labelling theorists to look at how laws are applied and enforced. Their studies show that agencies of social control are more likely to label certain groups of people as deviant or criminal. Aaron Cicourel — Power and the negotiation of justice.
The process of defining a young person as a delinquent is complex, and it involves a series of interactions based on sets of meanings held by the participants. Cicourel argues that it is the meanings held by police officers and juvenile officers that explain why most delinquents come from working class backgrounds.
The first stage is the decision by the police to stop and interrogate an individual. Whether or not the police stop and interrogate an individual depends on where the behaviour is taking place and on how the police perceive the individual s. The Second Stage is that the young person is handed over to a juvenile delinquent officer.
Factors associated with a typical delinquent include being of dishevelled appearance, having poor posture, speaking in slang etc. It follows that Cicourel found that most delinquents come from working class backgrounds. Also, their parents are more able to present themselves as respectable and reasonable people from a nice neighbourhood and co-operate fully with the juvenile officers, assuring them that their child is truly remorseful. As a result, the middle class delinquent is more likely to be defined as ill rather than criminal, as having accidentally strayed from the path of righteousness just the once and having a real chance of reforming.
Cicourel based his research on two Californian cities, each with a population of about , Cicourel argued that this difference can only be accounted for by the size, organisation, policies and practices of the juvenile and police bureaus. It is the societal reaction that affects the rate of delinquency.
It is the agencies of social control that produce delinquents. Discussion Questions. So this is how primary deviance is seen in labeling theory. The labeling process then leads to a second step, namely secondary deviance. What happens in this step is that the people who have been labeled delinquent start to self-identify with that label.
In other words, they start to see themselves as delinquent and start to act accordingly by committing more crime. In this way, the initial label works as a self fulfilling prophecy. So a formal sanction like being arrested by the police can actually stigmatize people, and people then try to live up to that label.
In other words, one of the basic tenets of labeling theory is that that if the government intervenes in the lives of offenders, for example by arresting them, they will only make things worse. If this continues, the offender may internalize the label and conform to it, which then leads to secondary deviance. Labeling theory was popular in the s, especially in the US, which may not be a surprise because in that period, there were many people who believed that government intervention in general was negative.
They felt that the government could not be trusted, for example regarding the war in Vietnam and civil rights. During the past couple of decades, labeling theory has not received as much attention. One of the reasons for that is that research has not always been supportive of it.
For example, research has not found that everyone who is labeled criminal also starts to see themselves as such. Instead, it explains why people continue to commit crime, so secondary deviance. Others then view and treat these people as criminals, and this increases the likelihood of subsequent crime for several reasons. Labeled individuals may have trouble obtaining legitimate employment, which increases their level of strain and reduces their stake in conformity.
Labeled individuals may find that conventional people are reluctant to associate with them, and they may associate with other criminals as a result.
This reduces their bond with conventional others and fosters the social learning of crime. Finally, labeled individuals may eventually come to view themselves as criminals and act in accord with this self-concept. Labeling theory was quite popular in the s and early s, but then fell into decline—partly as a result of the mixed results of empirical research. Some studies found that being officially labeled a criminal e.
Recent theoretical work, however, has revised the theory to take account of past problems. More attention is now being devoted to informal labeling, such as labeling by parents, peers, and teachers.
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