Howard Becker - Labelling Theory

• Howard Becker - Labelling Theory


  They are concerned with not only how and why certain acts become labelled or defined as criminal, but also how societies reactions causes this.
• Howard Becker - Labelling Theory

  • Becker stated once a person was labelled a ’delinquent/deviant’ they would become it.
  • If an individual is told they ‘are’ something enough, through the ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ they will replicate that behaviour.
  • This label then becomes them and is known as their ‘master status’.
  • Therefore, they believe that we ‘socially construct’ what is deviant and criminal.
• How could this lead to selective law enforcement?

  1. Becker states agents of social control, use their own discretion and selective judgement when dealing with illegal behaviours.
  2. Police operate with pre-existing conceptions and stereotypes with who they select to stop and search.
• Advantages of Interactionist Theory

  1. It shows how law is often enforced in a discriminatory way. it highlights the consequences of labelling.
  2. Highlights weaknesses in official statistics which allow bias in law enforcement.
  3. Highlights the role of the media in defining and creating deviance and for producing moral panics.
• Disadvantages of Interactionist Theory

  1. Fails to explain why deviant behaviour happens in the first place. There’s no acceptance that some people may just choose deviance.
  2. Ignores the victim of crime and focuses on the ‘criminal’. There’s potential to romanticise crime.
  3. Criminals do not need a label to know what they are doing wrong. Also, labelling does not always lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy.