There is no such thing as an inherently deviance act
Howard Becker (1963) “Deviancy is not a quality of the act a person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an 'offender'.”
Not everyone who is deviant gets labelled as such
Whether an actor is labelled as deviant depends on: their interactions with the police, their background/ appearance, the circumstances of the offence.
Negative labels (deviant/ criminal) are generally given to the powerless by the powerful.
Positive evaluations of Labelling Theory
the law is not 'set in stone' - it is actively constructed and changes over time
law enforcement is often discriminatory
we cannot trust crime statistics
attempts to control crime can backfire
social control may actually be one of the major causes of crime
Negative Evaluations of Labelling Theory
not everyone accepts their labels
assumes offenders are just passive
gives the offender a 'victim status'
tends to emphasise the negative sides of labelling rather than the positive side
