Summary Unit 9 - Labelling Perspectives KRM 310 (A)

Name the generic assumptions of labelling theories.

Réponse: - Society creates deviants by labelling those who are apprehended as different from others but, in reality, they’re only different because they have been tagged with a deviant label - Focus on the process by which individuals become involved in deviant behaviour & the part social audiences play/their responses to the norm violations of individuals - Formal & informal social reactions to criminality can influence criminals’ subsequent attitudes/behaviours - Focus on the process by which formal social control agents change the self-concept of individuals through these agents’ reactions to their behaviour

Explain Tannenbaum\'s \'Dramatization of evil\' theory (5 marks).

Réponse: - Tannenbaum examined the process whereby juveniles came to the attention of authorities & was labelled different from other juveniles - This process produced a change in how those juveniles were handled by the justice system & how they viewed themselves - Tannenbaum called this process the “dramatization of evil” - The process of tagging a juvenile resulted in youths becoming involved with other delinquents & these associations represented attempt to escape the society that was responsible for the negative labelling - Thus they became involved in a deviant career - In other words: The less evil is dramatized, the less likely youths are to become involved in deviant careers

Define Lemert\'s theory of primary & secondary deviation (5 marks).

Réponse: - The theory focusses attention on the interaction between social control agents/rule violators & how certain behaviours came to be labelled criminal, delinquent/deviant - PRIMARY DEVIATION involves the individual’s behaviour - SECONDARY DEVIATION involves society’s response to the behaviour - The social reaction to the deviant could be interpreted as forcing a change in status/role - Society’s reaction to the deviant resulted in a transformation in the individual’s identity

Name the 8 steps/phases involved in the \'process of becoming deviant\' as outlined by Lemert in his theory of primary and secondary deviation.

Réponse: 1) Primary deviation occurs 2) Social penalties executed 3) Leads to further primary deviation 4) Causes stronger penalties & rejection 5) Leads to further deviation & hostilities 6) The crisis in tolerance leads to formal sanction/stigma by the community 7) This, in turn, strengthens the deviant conduct of the individual as a reaction to the stigma & penalties 8) Finally, the individual accepts the label and continues in his criminal conduct/career