week1 db -- new course
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Chapter3-LabelingTheory.pptxCJ 240 Deviance and Social Control
Labeling Theory Howard S Becker
The essence of crime is outside of the individual committing the deviant act
Labeling theory looks at the chain of events unleashes once people have labeled an act and its perpetrator as deviant
Created by society
Symbolic interactionist perspective – defines deviance as the infraction of some agreed upon rule
Assumes that those who have broken a rule constitute a homogenous category bc they have committed the same deviant act
This seems to ignore the central fact about deviance – it is created by society
Societal groups created deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders
Deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits BUT rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender
The deviant is the one to whom the label has been successfully applied
(think of an example of a person who committed a rule infraction but was not successfully labeled deviant)
Deviant bx is bx that people label deviant
Cannot assume that deviants are a homogenous group
The process of labeling is not infallible
Some ppl labeled w/o violating a rule
The category “deviants” also does not include all rule violators
May escape apprehension
Can not expect to find common factors of personality or life situations that will account for the supposed deviance
What do those labeled deviant have in common?
Share the label and are viewed as outsiders
Not everyone will respond to a rule violator as though they have violated a rule
The degree to which other people will respond to a given act as deviant varies.
Kinds of variation:
1. variation over time – what is deviant at one point may not be seen as deviant in the future/ past (example?)
2. who commits the act and who has been harmed by it
Rules applied more to some ppl than others
black on black murder vs black on white murder
Corporate crime – handled civilly
3. some rules are enforced only when they result in certain consequences – unmarried mothers vs unmarried fathers
Basically deviance is the product of a process which involves the response of other ppl to the bx
Whether a given act is deviant depends in part on the nature of the act AND in part on what other people do about it
We can not know if an act will be considered deviant UNTIL someone responds to it
What happens when the label is applied?
Being branded a deviant has imp consequences
Drastic change in the individual’s public identity – placed in a new status
Fairy, dope fiend, nut, lunatic
Master status and auxiliary status
Master – overrides other statuses and has certain priorities (Dr, skin color, female)
Possessing a deviant trait may have a symbolic value – other ppl assume you possess other auxiliary traits that go with it
EXAMPLE:
Criminal – need only commit a single offense
Carries other connotations (what are they?)
Identified as a deviant first
