Sociological Approaches:Labeling Theory

Conflict Theories

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Labeling Theory

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Labeling theory, sometimes called “the societal reaction perspective”

• Became a major criminological approach in the 1960s (in the US)

• Based on symbolic interactionism• Symbolic interactionism puts an emphasis on the meanings of

social interactions. (i.e., emphasis on the reactions of others and actor’s perceptions of the reactions)

Labeling theory says that,• Individuals are deviant mainly because they have been

labeled as deviant by social control agencies and others.• Deviance is not inherent in the act itself

• Crime is a label and not an act

Labeling Theory (cont.)

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Labeling theory is less interested in explaining the causes of deviances.• Instead, more interested in the process where some acts are

defined (labeled) as crime

Three important questions of the theory• 1. What behaviors are defined as criminal?

• Main concern is on the creation of law that defines something as crime• In labeling theory, crime is a social construction, and therefore,

no act is inherently criminal

• Behaviors only become criminal, when we (or more specifically, powerful interests) label them as criminal• One of the main predictions is that the behaviors of the powerless are

more likely to be criminalized.

Labeling Theory (cont.)

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• 2. Who is defined as criminal?

• The main concern is on the function of the criminal

justice system that defines something as criminal bu

t something else not.

• Differential enforcement

• Differential enforcement implies that less powerful

groups or those groups that are more threatening to

powerful interests are more likely to be labeled cri

minal

Labeling Theory (cont.)

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• 3. What are the consequences of labeling?• Although less interested in causes of crime, labeling

theory “can” be a theory of crime causation for the answer to this 3rd question.

• The theory’s main prediction is that labeling actually increases crime in the future.• Differentiate primary deviance and secondary deviance

• Primary deviance refers to less serious acts of crime that most people commits at a young age. (These are episodic, transitory acts of deviance/crime.)

• If the same criminal act leads to the conferral of the label “criminal”, secondary deviance may follow (Secondary deviance is persistent, stable, career deviance/crime).

Labeling Theory (cont.)

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The key question of labeling theory is how primary deviance leads to secondary deviance for someone but not others.

• Societal reaction(intervention by the criminal justice system) is important.

• The secondary deviance loops back to societal reactions

Societal Reaction

(Labeling)

Secondary

Deviance

Opportunity Structure

Self Concept

Interpersonal Networks

Primary

Deviance

Labeling Theory (cont.)

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Societal reaction may affect three things

• 1. Opportunity structure

• Being labeled as a criminal can close a lot of doors for job opportunity, education opportunity, and so on.

• 2. Self concept

• Being labeled as a criminal imposes negative self images.

• 3. Interpersonal Networks

• Being labeled as a criminal damages the conventional networks with family and friends. (And, he/she may turn to others who have also been labeled.)

As the person commits secondary deviance, the causal chain begins again.

Labeling Theory (cont.)

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Becker (1973)• “Deviance was created and rule enforcers often acted

with a bias against the poor and powerless”

• Three types of deviant behaviors• 1. Pure deviant

• 2. Falsely accused deviant

• 3. Secret deviant: A rule violator who is not noticed or perceived by others

• If a considerable amount of undetected “secret” delinquency occurs, this could suggest that delinquency is a result of labeling.• In fact, research shows that a lot of secret deviance does

exist. (c.f., The results of self-reported measures)

Labeling Theory (cont.)

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Critique of labeling theory• Without labeling, no crime?

• Denying individual responsibility

• Even though based on symbolic interactionism, this theory assumes purely passive individuals.• Violators of societal rules are not passive robots of societal

reaction

• Some acts are universally regarded as intrinsically wrong.• How can we explain the case where one’s first offense is murder?

• This theory does not explain primary deviance• The label does not create the initial act

• This theory may be useful for public order crimes and borderline forms of deviances, but cannot be a general theory.

Conflict Criminology

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Vold (1958) proposed that,• Society is made up of a variety of continually comp

eting interest groups

• Conflict is one of the essential elements

• More powerful groups are able to have the state formulate laws in their interests

• Criminal acts represents challenges by subordinated groups to the existing dominant group’s control

• Crime can be explained as a product of intergroup conflict that expresses the political struggle of these groups

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Conflict Criminology (cont.)

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Distinction between,• Conflict criminology: which, as expressed by Vold and

Dahrendorf, proposes a pluralistic model with a variety of competing groups

• Economically, racially, culturally, politically competing groups

• Radical criminology: which generally espouses an orthodox, neo-Marxian, ideological view

• Singularistic conflict model (capitalist class control)

Radical Criminology• Quinney: Crime was the result of capitalism and the crime

problem could be resolved only by the establishment of a socialist state

• Crime is a necessary outcome of inequality in capitalist societies

Conflict Criminology (cont.)

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Conflict criminology of Reiman (1998)

• Acts that are criminalized are generally those of the poor

• The system often fails to treat the dangerous acts of the

wealthy and powerful as criminal

• The failure of the criminal justice system in fighting street

crime conveys an important ideological message that the

greatest danger to the average citizen is from below him or

her on the economic ladder

• Crime in the suites should be prosecuted in the same

manner as crime in the streets, and all acts should be

prosecuted in proportion to the actual harm they produce.

Conflict Criminology (cont.)

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Critique of conflict criminology

• Abandoning science for ideology

• The legal order and capitalism are blamed for everything

• All of the problems of justice are collapsed into the economic interest of classes

However, still very useful to examine white-collar crimes and political crimes

New Critical Criminology

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Left Realism• Unlike Marxists, the left realists accept the reality of

street crime and do not view it as a sort of revolutionary activity of the oppressed• Attempting to translate radical ideas into a realistic

social policy

• Emphasizing social justice as a way of achieving a fair and orderly society and also emphasizing,• Demarginalize offenders

• Preemptive deterrence through citizen groups

• Minimal use of prisons

• Transform the “police force” into a “police service”