Flashcards
Labelling theory
Cards in this deck (13)
- 1Labelling Theory- the social construction of devianceFor labelling theorists, deviance is simply a social construct. Becker- social groups create deviance by creating rules and applying them to individuals who they label as 'outsiders'.
Therefore an act or person becomes deviant when labeled by others as such. - 2Differential enforcementLabelling theorists argue social control agencies (police etc) label certain groups as criminal.
Piliavin and Briar found police decisions to arrest were based on stereotypical ideas about manner, gender, class, ethnicity, time and place. - 3TypificationsCicourel argues police use typifications of the 'typical delinquent'. Individuals fitting typifications- more likely to be stopped, arrested and charged.
Working class and ethnic minority juveniles- more likely to be arrested. Those from broken homes- more likely to be charged.
Middle-class juveniles- less likely to fit typification & have parents who negotiate for them successfully.
EVAL: Marxists argue labelling theorists fail to locate the origin of such labels in a capitalist society. - 4Crime statistics: a topic not a resourceWC people fit police typifications so they patrol WC areas- more WC arrests. Crime stats therefore get invalid pic of crime patterns.
Cicourel- we cant take crime stats at face value or use them as a resource BUT we should treat them as a topic and investigate process by which they're constructed. - 5The effects of labellingLermet- by labelling certain people as deviant, society actually encourages them to become more so: societal reaction= 'secondary deviance'.
Primary deviance is deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled. They often go uncaught & are trivial. Those who commit them often don't see themselves as deviant.
EVAL: Labelling theory fails to explain why people commit primary deviance in the first place, before they're labelled. - 6The effects of labelling part 2Secondary deviance: results from societal reaction (i.e. labelling) labelling someone as an offender can exclude them from society. The label becomes their master status.
- 7self fulfilling prophecyBeing labelled- lead to SFP- resulting in secondary deviance. Further societal reaction may lead to individual joining a deviant subculture that offers support, role models and a deviant career.
- 8Young (1971)study of hippy marijuana users illustrates these processes. Drug use was initially not so common among hippies until the police persecution of them as junkies (societal reaction) led them to develop a deviant subculture where drug use became a central activity (SFP)
- 9EVAL OF SFPLabelling theory is sometimes accused of being too deterministic- assuming that once labelled, a SFP is inevitable. BUT an individual is always free to choose not to deviate further.
- 10Deviance amplification spiral- the attempt to control deviance leads to it increasing rather than decreasing- resulting in greater attempts to control it (in turn yet more deviance)- escalating spiral.
- 11Folk Devils and Moral PanicsCohen (1972) study of mods and rockers. Media exaggeration and distortion began a moral panic.
Moral entrepreneurs called for 'crackdown'. Police respond by arresting more youths, provoking more concern.
Demonising the mods and rockers as 'folk devils' marginalised them further, resulting in more deviance. - 12Key difference between functionalism and labelling theoryThe work of Cohen and Young points to a key difference with functionalism:
functionalists: see deviance producing social control.
Labelling theorists: see control producing further deviance. - 13—
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- A-Level Sociology Flashcards on Labelling theory , created by emily.bloom1 on 15/03/2016.
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- emily.bloom1 · Mar 2016
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- Mar 7, 2018
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