Advocates are not so much interested in what makes a particular behaviour criminal or non-criminal - more concerned with how and why some actions become labelled as criminal in the first place
Becker's argument
Powerful groups in society create deviance by making up rules and applying them to people they see as 'outsiders' - what counts as criminal behaviour only becomes so when labelled by others
Crime
A social construct
Self-fulfilling prophecy
The concept takes the idea of labelling a step further - describing students as 'clever', 'lazy' or 'disobedient' can have far-reaching consequences in terms of their eventual achievement
Self-fulfilling prophecy
1. Teacher expectations based on the label are communicated to students
2. Students internalise their label
3. The label eventually becomes 'real' in the way it influences both the students' perception of themselves and the teacher's behaviour towards them
Study of labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy
Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)
Teachers told a group of children were gifted 'spurter' and were about to 'bloom' (the kids were actually chosen at random)
At the end of the school year, those same children had improved IQ significantly more than children identified as 'standard' at the beginning of the year
The deviant, as labelled by society
Comes to see themself in this way because of the stereotypedresponse of others towards their label, making deviant behaviour more likely
Observational learning
Criminal behaviour is learned indirectly by observing and imitating the actions of deviant others
Observational learning
1. The behaviour must be attended to, recalled, and the would-be offender must have the skill and capacity to perform the behaviour successfully
2. The observer must also be motivated to reproduce the behaviour - vicarious reinforcement
If criminal behaviour is to be imitated
It must be seen to be rewarded (vicarious reinforcement)
Social learning theory
A developmental explanation that can account for the development of criminal activity at different ages
Young offenders may be especially susceptible to the influence of role models
This is more likely if identification takes place - a young offender may look up to and want to be like a gang leader as they see them as commanding highstatus and respect, as well as enjoying a lifestyle that is glamorous and attractive
Study of labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy
Jahoda (1954) studied the Ashanti of Ghana where boys are named after the day they are born
Monday boys are thought to be even-tempered compared to aggressive and volatile boys who are born on a Wednesday
Jahoda observed that Wednesday boys were over 3 times more likely to be involved in violent crime than Monday boys over a 3-year period
Zebrowitz et al (1998) found that boys with a 'baby face' were more likely than their mature-faced peers to be delinquent and involved in crime
Objection to labelling theory
The labelling theory of offending implies that without labelling, crime would not exist - this is problematic as serious offences such as murder are more than social constructs, and that murderers are criminals whether they are labelled or not
Most of the studies on labelling have been confined to educational settings, and it may be that the teacher-student relationship is a very particular one in which expectations may have an important bearing on a child's educational attainment
There are toomany factors that affect the relationship between labelling and crime to study the phenomenon effectively
Reintegrative shaming
Preferable to disintegrative shaming - the offender receives support and is helped back to society with guidance from the family and prisonstaff, they are less likely to continue offending
Social explanations are supportive of the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate, that criminal behaviour is something that is acquired through interaction with society in the immediate environment, rather than innate
Crime is a complex social activity which is likely to be explained by several different influences
Many would argue that crime is more than a social construct, and that some acts are universally criminal by their very nature
Social learning struggles to account for the idea that some crimes have a biological basis (eg driven by hormonal differences)