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Labelling Theory and Crime
One of the most important theories to explain why people become and stay
criminal.
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What is crime?
• Labelling theories say that no behaviour is wrong until someone else says it is.
• Crime is not about what you do – it is about how others see it.
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For example
• Victorian people used poppies to make a popular drug, laudanum.
• This is now illegal because it is similar to heroin.
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The speeding vehicle ...
• This vehicle is speeding at 70 mph in a built up area.
• Is it the action wrong?
• Is the action deviant?
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A deviant person
• Once a person is seen as a deviant or criminal, they gain a label.
• This label is known as a Master Status. The master status is the main thing about you that everyone knows.
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Gaining a master status
• What are the first things you notice about this person?
• Those first things are master statuses
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Master status
• If you are labelled as a criminal, then this is so important a status that everyone sees you in those terms.
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Criminal master status
• How would you act if you saw this person?
• Could you treat him normally?
• Would his master status affect how you saw him?
HANNIBAL
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Outsiders
• Howard Becker, a famous sociologist, said that people with a criminal master status become ‘outsiders’.
• They are not treated as normal.
• Other people treat them with disgust or lack of trust.
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Rejecting outsiders
• Because people reject the people with a criminal master status, they are not part of society.
• They feel like outsiders.
• They mix with other people like themselves. The outsiders reject society
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Others feel threatened
• People feel nervous of criminal groups and reject them more.
• The criminal groups then develop their own way of acting.
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Labelling theory explained
Action
No witness
No label
Action witnessed
Person labelled
Person rejected
Person rejects society
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Young people labelled
• Young people are vulnerable to labels.– They act in groups– They are more likely to drink or use
drugs that lower control– They are influenced by others around
them– They frighten older people
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Older people not labelled
• Older people are less vulnerable to labels– Older people tend to stay at home
more– Older people have more to lose if
they get labelled– People do not expect older people to
be criminal and overlook things.
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The end
If you have further ideas, see Mrs Griffiths
