LEC: Labeling Theory and Moral Panics

The speaker refers to the Cyber Truck as a "deviant vehicle."
He sarcastically suggests labeling Tesla vehicles as "model now" due to their perceived ugliness.
He criticizes the high price (>$150,000) and the company's unwillingness to accept them as trade-ins, suggesting financial problems.

Referencing Keith Richards, the speaker introduces the concept of labeling. "Labeling is called by Keith Richards. I forgot I'm off of the drugs. He was a musician."
Larry Craig: A powerful, closeted gay Republican senator known for voting against gay rights.
He was outed by the gay community due to his hypocrisy.
Craig was involved in a lewd conduct case at the Minneapolis Airport.
He initially plead guilty, then claimed innocence, stating, "Never been gay."
The documentary "Outrage" (02/1991) is recommended as an excellent source on the same topic.
The senator perpetuated a lie about his sexuality and hated himself.

The Idaho Daily Statesman published articles about sex charges involving Boise men, leading to a moral panic.
The panic included calls to eliminate homosexuals.
Moral panics often have some truth but magnify the problem excessively.
Kids are more likely to be molested at home, school, or daycares.
Historical examples of moral panics:
- Nudo's massacre in Brazil (1893-1897).
- Century penis panics in China, where men feared their penises being sucked into their bodies. Some even tied strings around their penises to prevent this.
- Satanic day care center panics in Canada and the United States.
- White slave trafficking in Orlando, France.
Characteristics of a moral panic: concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality, and volatility.
The speaker hopes current moral panics, like the "trans menace," will dissipate.

Emerges from the context of the 1960s, including:
- Opposition to the Vietnam War (55,000+ American deaths, 1 million+ Vietnamese deaths).
- The draft.
- Increased university enrollment and intellectualism.
Also known as societal reaction perspective.
Focuses on why people label others rather than why deviance occurs.
- Donald Trump is given as an example of someone adept at labeling (e.g., "Ron DeSanctimonius," “Meatball Ron”).
Argues that deviance is not inherent in the behavior itself but in the reaction to it.
The book Social Pathology by is referenced as foundational, though initially overlooked.
Labeling theorists examine the socio-historical development of deviant labels.

Becker identifies rule creators and rule enforcers.
The speaker suggests that police today sometimes act as moral crusaders, citing examples such as the sharing of information with members of the convoy protest.
Cites a Calgary police officer encouraging defiance of orders.
Police are primarily "blame doers" rather than thinkers.

Lemurk focuses on society's reaction to deviance, not the causes of deviance itself.
Primary deviance: Norm violations that don't lead to the individual being labeled as deviant.
Secondary deviance: Behavior adopted as a means of defense or adjustment to being labeled deviant.
- Examples: a student labeled a loser embracing the identity, someone labeled a slut becoming overtly sexual.

Some deviant act.
Societal reaction.
Possible outcomes:
- Rejection of the label and conformity.
- Role engulfment: Embracing the deviant label.
Secondary deviance.
Experiencing stigma.
Master status: The deviant label becomes the individual's primary identity.
The concept of master status is contextual.
Early labeling can be particularly harmful to children; the Youth Criminal Justice Act aims to mitigate this.

Eight "pseudo-patients" (mentally healthy individuals) were sent to 12 hospitals across the United States.
They claimed to be hearing voices saying "empty," "hollow" and "thud."
Once admitted, they ceased faking symptoms.
All but one were diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Hospital stays ranged from a week to 52 days.
Raises questions about the expertise and power of mental health professionals.
Real patients could identify the pseudo-patients, but staff could not.
Rosenhan concluded that "we cannot distinguish sanity from insanity."
Mental health facilities were seen as depersonalizing and controlling.
An anecdote is shared about a student who made disturbing comments, but nothing was done, highlighting issues with intervention.
There are limitations to consider because people who are seeking help should be provided it.
A re-do of the experiment occurred in which staff said that they were warned before hand they would have been able to spot pseudo patients from the real patients.

Decriminalize victimless crimes (e.g., marijuana).
- The speaker supports marijuana legalization, citing its medical benefits and lack of overdose risk compared to alcohol or aspirin.
Take a least restrictive approach when regulating behavior.
- The Juvenile Delinquency Act (1908) acknowledged the developmental differences between children and adults.
- The 1984 amendments were made in Juvenile Delinquency Act for charging young people as adult offenders.
- Acknowledges the importance of avoiding premature labeling of children.

Causal critique: Fails to explain primary deviance.
Normative critique (from functionalists): Deviance is a violation of norms, not just an empty label.
Structural critique (from neo-Marxists): Fails to address the contextual variables that give rise to deviance, such as capitalism and class inequality.

Labeling theory is similar to symbolic interactionism but operates at a macro level, examining how groups are vilified.
Focuses on how society manufactures deviance rather than why individuals engage in it.
Ushered in a new era of thinking in criminology.
Mixing conflict theory and symbolic interactionism helps understand how society labels people in contemporary society.
Examples of vilified groups: LGBT community, women, Black African Americans.
The speaker references Trump's false claim of a white genocide in South Africa as an example of how labeling can be used to create a false reality. “Because just by talking about it makes it real enough.”