interactionism and labelling theory

• • labelling theories are interested in how and why certain acts come to be defined or labelled as criminal
  • its not the act but the reaction
• Starts with 'moral entrepreneur'; people who lead moral crusades to change the law. The new laws have two effects

  1. creates a new group of 'outsiders'
  2. the creation or expansion of a social control agency to enforce new law
• who gets labelled:

  • their interactions with the agencies of social control
  • their appearance, background and personal biography
• Cicourel (1968)- Negotiation of justice

  • officer use typifications which lead them into concentrating on particular groups and patrolling particular areas
  • reinforced by other agents of social control such as probation officers
  • justice is not fixed, it is negotiable. Middle class youth are less likely yo be charged as their parents can negotiate a way out
• W.J. Chambliss - Saints and roughnecks (1973)-

  two groups boys; saint MC and roughnecks WC
• W.J Chambliss (1994) Rapid deployment unit:

  • points to racist policing in Washington DC
  • policed the 'black' areas of the city with more aggression and suspicion than the 'white'
  • labelled black men as criminals and stop more cars with black drivers than white
• primary and secondary deviance:

  • Lemert (1951) distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance. Primary deviance refers to acts that have not been pubically labelled
  • there is no point in pursuing this as it is so widespread
• master status- refers to a label that takes precedence over all other labels e.g. prostitute, junkie, pedophile. These overide other labels such as friend, parent or neighbour.
• Evidence to support- Jock Young; Marijuana study-

  • applied Beckers' ideas into practice 'hippie' marijuana users in Notting Hill (1971)
  • argued that smoking marijuana is a minor and insignificant event for hippies- however negatively labelled and treated by the police so the hippies 'closed ranks' as a form of self defence - the hippie became an exaggerated form (this is called deviancy amplification)
• labelling and shaming- Braithwaite (1989)-

  disintegrative: offender is made to feel an outsider and not worthy of reintroduction into normal society. More likely to rejoin criminal subcultures.

  reintegrative: offender given another chance and reabsorbed

  E.G. UK is disintegrative but Japan is reintegrative