Labelling

• Beckers labelling theory refers to how someones view of themselves comes from the terms used to describe them
• informal labelling: label that is applied to somebody by someone without the authority to distinguish between deviant and non deviant
• formal labelling: label is given by somebody with the formal status and ability to discern deviant behaviour
• retrospective labelling: going back to somebody's past and reinterpreting it in light of their label
• projective labelling: using a label to predict somebody's future
• deviant label can become a master status where this identity overrides all other identities
• strength: Chambliss, 2 groups of teenagers involved in drinking and vandalism labelled as either 'saints' or 'roughnecks' based on social class and grades. all but 2 'roughnecks' became criminals and 7/8 'saints' went to college.
• weakness: the theory is reductionist, ignores personality and the process that leads to the initial deviant act
• strength: McGrath, found that there were more perceived stigmatisations by respondents who offended younger, or if they had more convictions
• weakness of McGrath: study lacks generalisability, was only significantly related to females and not males
• strength: Farrington et al, assessed variables correlating with offending in 118 males and 93 females. for females, the strongest predictor of crime was labelling, increasing the risk of a violent offence to 19.2
• weakness of Farrington et al: low generalisability, again only found in females, maybe labelling only affects females