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Flashcards by Em Maskrey, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Em Maskrey
about 6 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| From which sociological perspective does labelling theory derive? | Symbolic interactionism. |
| The labelling theory suggests that most people commit deviant and criminal acts, but only some people are caught and stigmatised for it. Which research method confirms this? | Self-report studies - they indicate that very few people would claim that they have never broken the law or acted deviantly. |
| Evidence indicates that British people break the law an average of 17 times a year. What offences were reported to be commonly broken? | 1. Speeding (63%). 2. Sex in a public place (43%). 3. Stealing (33%). 4. Taking illegal drugs (25%). |
| If most people commit deviant acts of some kind, it is pointless trying to search for differences between so-called deviants and non-deviants. Rather, what should we instead attempt to understand? | The definition of and reaction to deviance. |
| In which book did Howard Becker give a very clear and simple illustration of the labelling argument? | The Outsiders. |
| What study does Becker draw upon? | Bronislaw Malinowski's anthropological study of a traditional culture on a pacific island. |
| What three points does Becker take from Malinowski's study? | 1. Just because someone breaks a rule, it does not necessarily follow that others will define it as deviant. 2. Someone must enforce the rules or at least draw attention them. 3. If successfully labelled, a person will suffer consequences. |
| Most theories take for granted that once a person has committed a deviant or criminal act, the response to them will be uniform. Which study shows that this is incorrect? | John Kitsuse's study of heterosexual students and their opinions on homosexuality. |
| Labelling theory has been criticised for failing to explain the causes of primary deviance - people commit crimes knowing their actions are against the law before being labelled. How does Edwin Lemert respond to this? | He says that crime and deviance are so commonplace that they do not need explaining. |
| The theory also tends to assume that labelling is either arbitrary or based on biases. However, what does this ignore? | The possibility of labelling occasionally being based on the seriousness of the offence and/or frequency of the offending. |
| Once an individual is labelled as a deviant, various consequences occur. Which sociologist identifies the distinction between primary and secondary deviance? | Edwin Lemert. |
| What is the distinction between primary and secondary deviance? | Primary deviance is rule-breaking, which is of little importance in itself, while secondary deviance is the consequence of the responses of others, which is significant. |
| When a person has been labelled as 'deviant', they eventually come to be seen in this way and to see themselves in this way, with all other qualities becoming irrelevant. How does Becker describe this process? | As a 'master status'. |
| Labelling can sometimes make deviance worse. What can this process be referred to as? | Deviancy amplification. |
| Sometimes entire groups can be demonised and seen as 'folk devils'. What can this lead to? | A moral panic about the group in question. |
| Which sociologist developed the concept of moral panics? | Stanley Cohen. |
| The labelling of individuals and/or social groups can have a number of effects. Firstly, what may it produce what? | A self-fulfilling prophecy. |
| What is another possible effect of labelling? | The formation of subcultures. |
| Which left realist found strong evidence that labelling could lead to deviancy amplification and the formation of subcultures? | Jock Young. |
| Perhaps the most common criticism of the labelling theory is that it is too deterministic. What is meant by this? | It assumes that once a label has been applied, it will inevitably lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. This implies that individuals have little or no free will nor any control over their lives. |
| The concept of moral panics has also been criticised. Why? | They have been described as outdated and no longer useful in the age of digital communications with more sophisticated audiences. |
| How do supporters of the concept counter this criticism? | They argue that moral panics remain a real and significant phenomenon in the UK and elsewhere and continue to lead to labelling and deviancy amplification. |
| Labelling theorists argue that they have sensitised sociologists to the use of official statistics. What do they mean by this? | Statistics are socially constructed and they therefore lack validity. |
| The idea of master status led Becker to devise which concept? | The concept of the 'deviant career'. |
| What does Becker mean by 'deviant career'? | The processes that are involved in a label being applied and the response of the labelled person (whether they choose to accept or reject it). |
| Once labelling theorists began to look at how social life is negotiable and saw that rule enforcement is no different to any other social activity, where did their attention shift to? | The creation of rules and laws. |
| When understanding why rules and laws are made, sociologists typically took one of which two perspectives? | 1. Marxist (rules were made to benefit the ruling class). 2. Functionalist (rules were made to reflect the views of the majority of the population). |
| Becker believed that both marxist and functionalist perspectives were incorrect in their explanation of the creation of laws. What did he argue was the true cause of law creation? | He stated that rules are the product of someone's initiative. |
| How does Becker refer to the people who create and uphold rules? | As 'moral entrepreneurs'. |
| Labelling theorists argue that laws are a reflection of the activities of people (in particular, moral entrepreneurs) who actively seek to create and enforce laws. Why do they do so? | Either because the laws will benefit them personally or because they believe the laws will benefit society. |
| Give examples of moral entrepreneurs: | Journalists, politicians and religious leaders. |
| What is the most famous example of moral entrepreneurs in action? | Becker's study of the outlawing of cannabis in the USA in 1937. |
| How did Becker describe the campaign to outlaw drugs? | As a 'moral crusade'. |
| A major criticism of this theory is that can be described as having an incoherent theory of power. Why? | It argues that more powerful groups are able to impose their definition of the situation on others yet doesn't explain why some groups have more power than others. |
| Phenomenological approaches to studying deviance are similar to labelling approaches in what way? | Both theories emphasise the importance of the way that the law is enforced and draw attention to the process of labelling. |
| How do the two approaches differ? | Phenomenology does not try to explain why deviance takes place, instead concentrating on the processes by which certain acts are defined as deviant and others are not. |
| Aaron Cicourel studied the way in which delinquency was dealt with in two Californian cities, showing a phenomenological approach. What did he find? | He argued that decisions of someone's delinquency are based upon a process of interaction and negotiation. |
| What process is taken when deciding whether a person is a delinquent? | The process of negotiation. If the person cannot negotiate their way out of the situation, they will be deemed a delinquent. |
| What is the term used to refer to ideas about what a typical person from a particular group is like? | Typifications. |
| Police and probation officers have a 'delinquent typification'. What is it? | A person from a single-parent family, often belonging to a ethnic minority group, with poor attitudes towards authority, a low income. |
| Why are the majority of 'delinquents' from a working-class background, according to Cicourel? | Because they also tend to come from single-parent families, belong to ethnic minority groups, have poor attitudes toward authority and have a low income. |
| The typifications held by police and probation officers tend to guide what? | Their decision-making. |
| Cicourel adds that middle-class parents are better at negotiating their children out of trouble than working-class parents are. What impact does parents' ability to negotiate children out of trouble have? | It means they are more likely to be able to convince officers that their child is not a serious of habitual offender and will not offend again, resulting in the child being 'let off'. |
| Cicourel's work shows how justice can be negotiated and suggests how important existing mental categories are in the classification of people as 'deviant'. However, What does this approach fail to explain, according to Taylor et al? | Where meanings or 'mental categories' originate from in the first place. |
| Taylor et al question why it is that the police tend to see the typical delinquent as working-class. What do they believe the explanation for this is? | Power differences in society . |
| While phenomenology is useful for understanding day-to-day interactions, what is it less useful for understanding? | The wider reasons for inequality in the criminal justice system. |
| Becker argues that labelling theory has a clear value position. What is meant by this? | It argues for the underdog, providing a voice for those labelled as 'deviant'. |
| However, which sociologist argues that they don't truly fight for the underdog because they imply explore marginally deviant activities, reinforcing the notion that pimps, prostitutes and the mentally ill are deviant? | Alexander Liazos. |
| Alvin Gouldner also criticises labelling theorists. He claims that they fail to provide any real challenge to the status quo. Rather, what do they do? | He claims that all they do is criticise doctors, psychiatrists and police officers for their role in labelling. Their failure to identify the more powerful groups who benefit from this focus on marginalised groups will not prompt any true change. |
| Labelling theorists can also be criticised for focusing largely on small-scale interaction. What does this neglect? | The wider social structure that might help to shape the interaction. |
| Labelling theory assumes that rule-breaking is widespread and generally insignificant. The real harm comes from the subsequent labelling of the rule-breakers. What does this imply? | That fewer acts should be seen as deviant and/or criminal. |
| However, rather than decriminalising acts, we are seeing more and more acts become illegal. What is an alternative possibility to tackle the issue of labelling in relation to deviance? | To develop new types of social reaction to crime and deviance that make further acts less likely. |
| Which sociologist has distinguished between two types of 'shaming' of so-called deviants? | John Braithwaite. |
| What is the first form of shaming identified by Braithwaite? | Disintegrative shaming. This is traditionally used in criminal justice. The offender is publicly labelled and made to feel ashamed for their label. This separates them from the rest of community. |
| What is the second form of shaming identified by Braithwaite? | Reintegrative shaming. The emphasis of this would be on the act itself, rather than the criminal, and steps are take to help the offend reintegrate back into community, which will lower their chances of reoffending. |
| However, the idea of reintegrative shaming is probably most applicable to relatively minor acts of deviance. Who would it not be appropriate for? | Serious offenders - murderers, rapists, etc. |
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