social explanation

• Labelling theory

  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 stereotyped response 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 high status 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 too many 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 prison staff, 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)