Labelling theory Flashcards
What does this theory state?
no act is deviant or criminal in itself, it only becomes so when we create rules and apply them to others
What is differential enforcement?
where the law is enforced more against one group than against another
What did Piliavin and Briar find out?
police decisions to arrest were based on stereotypical ideas about a person’s manner, dress, gender, class, ethnicity, time and place
What does Edwin Lemert argue about labelling?
by labelling certain people as deviant, society encourages them to become more so
What is primary deviance?
involves acts that have not been publically labelled, often trivial and mostly go uncaught
What is secondary deviance?
People may treat the offender solely in terms of his label, which becomes his master status or controlling identity
What is the result of secondary deviance?
the offender may be rejected by society and forced into the company of other criminals, joining a deviant subculture
What is the deviance amplification spiral?
the attempt to control deviance through a ‘crackdown’ leads to it increasing rather than decreasing, prompts even greater attempts which leads to more deviance in an escalating spiral
What is an example of the amplification spiral and how did it cause more devaince?
mods and rockers, media exaggeration caused growing public concern
police responded by arresting more youths, provoking more concern
mods and rockers were negatively labelled as ‘folk devils’
What do interactions believe with crime statistics?
the statistic measure what the police do rather than what criminals do
What are strengths of this theory?
shows the law is not a fixed set of rules to be taken for granted but something whose construction we need to explain, shifts the focus onto how the police create crime by applying labels based on their stereotypes, shows how attempts to control deviance can trigger a deviance amplification spiral and create more deviance
What are the limitations of this theory?
wrongly implies that once someone is labelled, a deviant career is inevitable, emphasises the negative effects of labelling gives offenders a ‘victim’ status ignoring the real victims, fails to explain why people commit primary deviance in the first place before they are labelled
