evaluate the usefulness of the labelling theory to our understanding of crime and deviance (30 marker)

Introduction

labelling theory, otherwise knows as interactionist theory argues people do not become ciminals because of their social background but rather crime emerges as a result of labelling by authorities.
they see crime as micro level interactions between certain individuals and the polce, rather than the result of external social forces such as socialistaion or blocked opportunity structures

paragraph one

= from an interactionist perspective, becker argues that once an individual or group has been labelled in a certain way, others tend to see them in this way and it becomes a master status. - he argued that consequently the individual can laso start to see themselves in terms of the label as well.
= becker also argues society creates the rules and whn they are broken it forms deviance. therefore, if an individual is negatively labelled as 'deviant', they may be rejected from social groups - following this it may lead to them to become even more deviant in the future as they may find it difficult to get a job and thus leads to a vicious cycle of crime.
= in addition, the person may accept their identity as deviant and produce a deviant subculture which involves norms and values that encourage crime ans upport deviance.
= HOWEVER, this perspective is criticised for being determinsist as some people 'beat the odds' as they do not accept their label - it assumes offender are passive and doesnt recognise the role of personal choice in committing crime which RR emphasise in their theory of rational choice which may be a more useful explanation for crime and deviance.

paragraph two

= a further point is thta inteactionsists concentrate on interactions involved in labelling someone as deviant and the reasons behind why certain groups are more likely to be branded than others
= for example, Cicourel investigated the interactions between people of the law and a potential deviant - found thta the police made a series of decisons based on a personal set of meanings - the police would stop someone if in their opinion they belive the person to be 'suspicious' - after stopping they will then decide whether or not to arrest that person which depends on the individuals appearance, language and demeanour which fits their picture of a 'typical delinquent', which is mainly people from w/c who have poorer appearance.
= HOWEVER this view can be criticised as Cicourel states that police arrest people on the basis of their view of the 'typical delinquent' but he fails to explain where they acquire this stereotypical view of a criminal - they must have some reasoning behind this image, however no thought is given as to where it stems from so this theory may give an incomplete understanding

paragraph three - alternative theory

= alternatively, Merton argues the strain theory is more useful to explain crime than the labelling theroy
= merton belived crime and deviance were evidence of a strain between the socially accepted goals of society and the socially approved means of obtaining deired goals - the resulting strain leads to deviant behaviour
= merton argued all socities set their members certain goals and socially approved means of achieving those goals
=the system works as long as a reasonable majority of people are able to chieve their goals. however, if the majority of the population are unable to do so then they become disatisfied with society as a result and look for an alternative way to achiev their goals which tends to be criminal or deviant.
= this addresses that labeling theory does not go into enough depth of the intiatial causes of crime. - HOWEVER due to mertons heavily reliance on official stats, he over emplhasis the crimes of the w/c and underestimates crimes of the elite so may provide an inacurate exaplanation.