SY3 Labelling

An approach to the study of deviance which suggests that people become ‘deviant’ because certain labels are attached to their behaviour by political authorities and others

believed that the act done by the person was not deviant, but the action of labelling caused it to be viewed as such.

Shows that smoking of marijuana in the early 1960s was a marginal activity, within sub-cultures.Depending on acceptance into the culture, association with current users and disassociation with non-users.

a theory for how deviance might occur through labelling
Primary deviance: the first deviant act committed by a person, the person is then labelled as criminal.
Secondary deviance: acceptance of the label. Leading to the reproduction of that behaviour more frequently.

(marxist)
Studied 2 groups of delinquents in an American school: The Saints & Roughnecks. Both were constantly involved in petty crimes such as drinking, truancy, vandalism and theft; however the roughnecks were constantly in trouble, whereas the Saints never had any.

Negotiation, an important concept introduced by Cicourel, who saw labelling behind the social construction of official statistics.
He showed this knowledge through his study of two towns in the USA, but with very different crime rates.

1) Assumes that there is no free will.
2) It does not take into account the reasons for committing the deviant behaviour e.g. need? Want?
3) No definite proof to suggest labelling leads to deviancy amplification.