Labelling theories of crime and deviance

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  • Labelling theory(C&D)
    • Social construction
      • means social phenomena that is created by a society and is not naturally occurring due to evolution.
    • consequences of labelling
      • self-fulfilling prophecy:
        • once labelled, the person embodies that label and act in that way
      • deviancy amplification:
        • an attempt to control deviant creates more deviance in a society
      • Master status:
        • people are identified as being criminal and people treat them that way because of social control and influence
    • evaluation:
      • limitations:
        • 1.deviant becomes the victim 2.determinist approach 3.doesnt explain why people commit the original deviance 4.doesnt explain where the stereotypes in society originate
      • strengths
        • 1.emphasise the social construction of crime 2.identifies the role of the powerful 3.shows how deviancy can grow in society
    • moral entrepreneurs
      • the people high up in society that decide what is morally acceptable in society and what isn't
        • 1.the ruling class 2.government3.law makers
    • labelling process- Lemert:
      • primary deviance
        • a person commits a crime or deviant act but has not been seen so they are not labelled
      • secondary deviance
        • the deviant or criminal act has been witnessed and the person is labelled for that act. this can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy
    • Relativity of crime
      • crimes may not be crimes as it can depend on the circumstance as to whether it is a crime
        • contextual:
          • nudity is acceptable in your own home, but unacceptable in public highstreets.
        • historical:
          • what once would have been a crime such as homosexuals, it is now not a crime in modern scoiety
        • generational
          • the ideas of norms between different social groups has now changed. such as sex outside of marriage.
        • cultural
          • different cultures have different norms and values about certain activities for example, in Saudi arabia people are not allowed to drink
    • Cicourel:
      • labelling is what leads to selective law enforcement and negotiations of justice.
        • this is because once a group is labelled, the police focus on them and so the statistics are irrationally high in that particular group compared to others because those people are being watched intensely.

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