Labelling Theory

Labeling conjecture had its origins in Suicide, a book by French sociologist Emile Durkheim. He name that abomination is non so much a violation of a penal code as it is an act that outrages society. He was the first to draw out that degenerate labeling satisfies that function and satisfies societys need to control the carriage. As a subscriber to American Pragmatism and later a member of the Chicago School, George Herbert Mead posited that the self-importance is complaisantly constructed and reconstructed through the interactions which each psyche has with the community.The labeling theory suggests that deal obtain labels from how others view their t interceptencies or behaviors. Each individual is aw atomic number 18 of how they atomic number 18 judged by others because he or she has attempted umteen different roles and functions in amicable interactions and has been able to gauge the reactions of those present. This theoretically builds a subjective predilection of the self, solely as others intrude into the reality of that individuals life, this represents objective data which whitethorn require a re-evaluation of that conception depending on the authoritativeness of the others judgment.Family and friends whitethorn judge otherwise from random strangers. More socially representative individuals such as natural law officers or judges may be able to make more than globally respected judgments. If optical aberration is a failure to conform to the rules sight by just well-nigh of the group, the reaction of the group is to label the person as having offended against their social or moral norms of behavior. This is the power of the group to nail down breaches of their rules as degenerate and to treat the person differently depending on the serious-mindedness of the breach.The more differential the treatment, the more the individuals self-image is guessed. Labeling theory concerns itself mostly not with the dominion roles that define our lives, but with those very special roles that society provides for abnormal behavior, called deviant roles, anastigmatic roles, or social stigma. A social role is a set of expectations we have around a behavior. Social roles are undeniable for the organization and functioning of any society or group. We expect the postman, for example, to bandage to sure fixed rules about how he does his job. Deviance for a sociologist does not mean morally wrong, but rather behavior that is condemned by society. unnatural behavior can include both criminal and non-criminal activities. Investigators found that deviant roles unchewablely affect how we perceive those who are assigned those roles. They also affect how the deviant actor perceives himself and his relationship to society. The deviant roles and the labels attached to them function as a form of social stigma. Al shipway inherent in the deviant role is the attribution of some form of pollution or residue that marks the labeled p erson as different from others.Society uses these stigmatic roles to them to control and limit deviant behavior If you proceed in this behavior, you allow become a member of that group of people. Whether a breach of a given rule will be stigmatized will depend on the significance of the moral or other tenet it represents. For example, adultery may be considered a breach of an informal rule or it may be criminalized depending on the status of marriage, morality, and religion within the community. In most Western countries, adultery is not a crime.Attaching the label adulterer may have some unfortunate consequences but they are not loosely severe. But in some Islamic countries, zina is a crime and create of extramarital activity may lead to severe consequences for all concerned. soft touch is usually the allow of laws enacted against the behavior. Laws protecting slavery or outlawing homosexuality, for instance, will oer time form deviant roles connected with those behaviors. Tho se who are assigned those roles will be seen as less human and reliable.Deviant roles are the sources of interdict stereotypes, which tend to support societys disapproval of the behavior. editGeorge Herbert Mead One of the founders of social interactionism, George Herbert Mead focused on the internal act upones of how the mind constructs ones self-image. In Mind, Self, and Society (1934),1 he showed how infants come to have persons first and only later come to know things. According to Mead, apprehension is both a social and pragmatic process, establish on the pattern of two persons discussing how to solve a problem.Our self-image is, in fact, constructed of ideas about what we think others are thinking about us. While we make fun of those who visibly reproof to themselves, they have only failed to do what the rest of us do in keeping the internal conversation to ourselves. Human behavior, Mead stated, is the result of meanings created by the social interaction of conversation , both real and imaginary. editFrank Tannenbaum Frank Tannenbaum is considered the grandfather of labeling theory. His Crime and union (1938),2 describing the social interaction involved in crime, is considered a pivotal animal foot of modern criminology.While the criminal differs little or not at all from others in the original impulse to first commit a crime, social interaction accounts for continued acts that develop a pattern of social occasion to sociologists. Tannenbaum first introduced the idea of tagging. 3 While conducting his studies with delinquent youth, he found that a negative tag or label often contributed to further involvement in delinquent activities. This initial tagging may cause the individual to meet it as part of their identity.The crux of Tannenbaums argument is that the greater the worry placed on this label, the more likely the person is to identify themselves as the label. Kerry Townsend writes about the revolution in criminology caused by Tannenbau ms work The roots of Frank Tannenbaums theoretical model, known as the dramatization of evil or labeling theory, surfaces in the mid- to late-thirties. At this time, the New Deal legislation had not defeated the woes of the Great Depression, and, although dwindling, immigration into the United States continued (Sumner, 1994). 4 The social climate was one of disillusionment with the government. The track structure was one of cultural isolationism cultural relativity had not save taken hold. The persistence of the class structure, despite the welfare reforms and controls over outsized business, was unmistakable. 5 The confident(p) School of Criminological thought was still dominant, and in many states, the sterilization movement was underway. The emphasis on biological determinism and internal explanations of crime were the preeminent force in the theories of the early thirties.This dominance by the Positivist School changed in the late thirties with the introduction of conflict and social explanations of crime and criminality One of the central tenets of the theory is to encourage the end of labeling process. In the words of Frank Tannenbaum, the way out is through a refusal to dramatize the evil, the justice system attempts to do this through deflection programs. The growth of the theory and its current application, both virtual(a) and theoretical, provide a solid foundation for continued popularity. 6 editEdwin Lemert It was sociologist Edwin Lemert (1951) who introduced the concept of alternate deviance. The primary deviance is the experience connected to the raw behavior, say drug addiction and its practical demands and consequences. Secondary deviation is the role created to deal with societys condemnation of the behavior. With other sociologists of his time, he saw how all deviant acts are social acts, a result of the cooperation of society. In studying drug addiction, Lemert observed a very powerful and subtle force at work.Besides the physical addiction to the drug and all the economic and social disruptions it caused, there was an intensely intellectual process at work concerning ones own identity and the justification for the behavior I do these things because I am this way. on that point might be certain subjective and personal motives that might first lead a person to drink or shoplift. But the activity itself tells us little about the persons self-image or its relationship to the activity. Lemert writes His acts are repeated and organized subjectively and change into active roles and become the social criteria for assigning status..When a person begins to employ his deviant behavior or a role based on it as a means of defense, attack, or adjustment to the overt and covert problems created by the consequent societal reaction to him, his deviation is secondary 7 editHoward Becker While it was Lemert who introduced the key concepts of labeling theory, it was Howard Becker who became their champion. He first began de scribing the process of how a person adopts a deviant role in a study of dancing musicians, with whom he once worked. He later studied the identity ecesis of marijuana smokers. This study was the basis of his Outsiders publish in 1963.This work became the pronunciamento of the labeling theory movement among sociologists. In his opening, Becker writes social groups create deviance by making rules whose infraction creates deviance, and by applying those roles to particular people and labeling them as outsiders. From this range of view, deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by other of rules and sanctions to an offender. The deviant is one to whom that label has been successfully applied deviant behavior is behavior that people so label. 8 While society uses the stigmatic label to give up its condemnation, the deviant actor uses it to justify his actions. He wrote To put a interlocking argument in a few words inste ad of the deviant motives leading to the deviant behavior, it is the other way around, the deviant behavior in time produces the deviant motivation. 9 Beckers immensely popular views were also subjected to a barrage of criticism, most of it blaming him for neglecting the influence of other biological, genetic effects and personal responsibility.In a later 1973 edition of his work, he answered his critics. He wrote that small-arm sociologists, while dedicated to studying society, are often careful not to timber too closely. Instead, he wrote I prefer to think of what we study as collective action. People act, as Mead and Blumer have made clearest, together. They do what they do with an eye on what others have done, are doing now, and may do in the future. One tries to fit his own line of action into the actions of others, just as each of them likewise adjusts his own developing actions to what he sees and expects others to do. 10 Francis Cullen reported in 1984 that Becker was pro bably too generous with his critics. After 20 years, his views, far from creation supplanted, have been corrected and absorbed into an expanded structuring perspective. 11 editAlbert Memmi In The Colonizer and the colonize (1965) Albert Memmi described the deep psychological effects of the social stigma created by the domination of one group by another. He wrote The longer the conquest lasts, the more profoundly it affects him (the oppressed).It ends by becoming so familiar to him that he believes it is part of his own constitution, that he accepts it and could not imagine his recovery from it. This credenza is the crowning point of oppression. 12 In Dominated Man (1968), Memmi turned his attention to the motivation of stigmatic labeling it justifies the exploitation or criminalization of the victim. He wrote wherefore does the accuser feel obliged to accuse in order to justify himself? Because he feels guilty toward his victim. Because he feels that his attitude and his behavi or are essentially inequitable and fraudulent.Proof? In almost every case, the punishment has already been inflicted. The victim of racism is already living under the weight of cheapen and oppression. In order to justify such punishment and misfortune, a process of rationlization is set in motion, by which to explain the ghetto and colonial exploitation. 13 underlying to stigmatic labeling is the attribution of an inherent fault It is as if one says, There must be something wrong with these people. Otherwise, why would we treat them so sternly? editErving GoffmanPerhaps the most essential contributor to labeling theory was Erving Goffman, President of the American Sociological Association, and one of Americas most cited sociologists. His most popular books include The entry of Self in Everyday Life,14 Interaction Ritual, 15 and Frame Analysis. 16 His most important contribution to labeling theory, however, was Stigma Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity published in 196 3. 17 Unlike other authors who examined the process of adopting a deviant identity, Goffman explored the ways people managed that identity and controlled information about it.