Luke- labelling theory

• labelling theory:

  -micro theory - social construction- created + defined by society varies across cultures, time + social groups, rejecting normative definitions of crime - crime and deviance is relative + subjective- no universal agreement on what crime is, different people will have different meaning for crime, focus on how people are labelled and who does the labelling
• those labelled vs labellers:

  Labelled= drug addicts, homeless people, subcultures, youth, working class, minorities Labellers= police, upper class, judges, politicians, teachers, social workers, the media, moral entrepreneurs
• labelling concepts- Stan Cohen:

  Cohen= labelling theorist who looked at how the media label subcultures Moral panic= an exaggerates media response to a problem which appears to threaten the moral standards of a society Deviance amplification spiral= attempting to console deviance leads to more deviance
• labelling concepts- Aaron Cicourel: 


  Cicourel= labelling theorist who looked at how the police decide is a criminal Sterotyping= an over generalised belief or expectation about a particular group of people Typifications= a general knowledge approach of constructing ideas abut people, police pick up social cues which supports stereotypes and assumptions
• labelling concepts- Howard becker:

  Becker=sociologist, created the influential labelling theory, initially used in studies of deviance Moral entrepreneurs= individuals who use the strength of their positions to encourage others to follow their moral stance. Master status= stage when the individual fully accepts their deviant identity. Self fulfilling prophecy= a prediction/label which becomes true
• labelling concepts- jock young:

  Young= labelling theorist who studied middle class drug culture. Hippy culture cannabis case study= originally in 1950s/60s middle class drug taken by hippies largely went unnoticed by police. as labels as addicts grew hobbies were also labelled as a deviant subculture
• labelling concepts- Edwin lemert: 


  Lemert= labelling theorist who studied how people didn't often see themselves as offenders. Primary deviance= behaviour which hoes unnoticed and has little effect on the individuals self.
• Edwin lemert: 


  Secondary deviance= a societal reaction or challenge which then cause the deviance. Social reaction= laws and social control cause core rather than the presence of crime causing the need for social control.
• positives of labelling theory:

  reveals the importance of stereotyping, reveals the way official crime statistics are bias in law enforcement, shows how labelling can lead to self fulfilling prophecy, provides and insight into the nature of deviance as subjective which is not provided by structural theories
• negatives of labelling theory:

  removes the blame fro deviance away from deviant, are some crimes inheritantly deviant?, deterministic labelling doesn't always lead to self fulfilling prophecy, ignores wider structural factors and assumes its all down to societal reaction (only concerned with what happens before and after crime committed, some labels are not equally applied, little to say about victims of crime)
• applied to social policy:

  decriminalisation- criminal label are not applied, no deviance amplification occurs, youth offending term- diversion of young offenders from entering the criminal justice system, restorative justice- more towards community punishments, dialogue between the offender, victims and wider society, support after CJS, policing training- reducing disproportionate amounts of stop and search of ethnic minorities
• applied to social policy- braithwave 1989


  reintegrative shaming- poise shaming can integrate offenders back into the community, teaching empathy = better rehabilitation, shaming an offender publicly- eg stocks common punishment in past but punishment has become increasingly private today But can lead to disintegrative shaming, increased stigmatisation, isolation and humiliation by strangers to reinforce ables causing more deviance