Labelling

• Piliavin and Briar 


  police decisions to arrest were based on stereotypical ideas about a person's manner, dress, gender, class and ethnicity and the time and place
• Howard Becker said that crime is socially constructed
• 1. People commit deviant acts
  2. labelled as deviant
  3. the person themselves and society sees themselves as deviant
  4. self-fulfilling prophecy (they become the label)
  5. Once you have been labelled by the police, a individual accepts the label, internalises it and then acts it out
• Lemert -

  • Rather than looking at the causes of deviance, he was more interested In looking at the reactions to deviant behaviour
  • Those committing crimes were likely to be influenced by the reactions of others to their acts
  • Initial primary acts of deviance could lead to secondary acts of deviance
• Lemert stated that Societal reaction is the main cause of crime
• Primary deviance -

  • Deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled as criminal
  • Something that many of us have engaged in e.g. stealing
  • Often not noticed by others
  • Only minor effects on their personal status
• Secondary deviance -

  As a result of being labelled, the person internalises the label and acts accordingly by commit more deviant acts (self-fulfilling prophecy)
• Master status - the person labelled themselves as deviant will ultimately come to see themselves as bad


  • All other qualities become unimportant
  • As a result of secondary deviance, a convict may find it hard to get a job and turn to deviant subculture.
• Strengths

  • Raises the issue of skewed official crime stats - working class people are the most likely to commit crime and are more likely to be labelled negatively.
  • Crime data reflects labelling rather than actual criminality
  • Helps showcase how controlling deviance can spiral and create further deviance which suggests different methods are needed such as less controlling and challenging methods
• Limitations

  • Explains why crime may spiral when controlled but not why crime occurs in the first place
  • Assumes that we are determined by our labels but there are people who resist them and does not affect everyone the same