Labelling theories of crime and deviance

• Social construction means social phenomena that is created by a society and is not naturally occurring result of evolution
• Relativity of crime and deviance - BECKER

  • contextual e.g nudity
  • historical period e.g homosexuality
  • cultural e.g drinking alcohol in Saudi Arabia and UK
  • generational e.g ideas of normal vary between age groups
• who are moral entrepreneurs

  The people who decide what is morally acceptable within society

  • ruling class, governments, law makers
• labelling process

  LEMERT - primary deviance

  • a person commits an act that they know is deviant/criminal but no one else knows so no label is attached
• labelling process

  LEMERT - secondary deviance

  • the deviant act is witnessed and a label is attached to the person committing the act
• labelling process

  CICOUREL - labelling is what leads to selective law enforcement and negotiation of justice

  • when a group is labelled as deviant or criminal then the police are likely to focus on that group and therefore reinforce the stereotype
  • he referred to this as typifications - common sense theories and stereotypes of what is a 'typical criminal'
• who are agencies of social control

  Formal - police, CJS, courts

  Informal - Peers, society
• Consequences of labelling

  • self fulfilling prophecy
  • deviancy amplification
  • master status
• consequences of labelling

  • self fulfilling prophecy

  once a person is labelled a deviant they take on the label and begin to act in the way that they have been labelled
• consequences of labelling

  • deviancy amplification

  an attempt to control deviance leads to greater amounts of that deviance

  COHENS - mods and rockers

  JOCK - study of cannabis smokers in Notting HIll
• consequences of labelling

  • master status

  Where the individual is identified by a particular aspect of themselves such as being a criminal and this impacts how they are treated within society - this can lead to a deviant or criminal career as their label prevents them from accessing legitimate means of achieving social goals
• labelling theories of crime and deviance AO3

  • deviant becomes the victim and therefore not to blame for behaviour
  • deterministic
  • doesn't explain why people commit the original deviance
  • doesn't explain where the stereotypes come from
• labelling theories of crime and deviance support

  • emphasises the social construction of crime and deviance
  • identifies and reveals the role of the powerful in crime and deviance
  • shows how deviant careers can be established