Labelling Theory

Labelling theory first came about in the late mid-sixties and 70s as a new approach to crime and deviance, and is a brotherly way of thinking about crime. It became the main sociological theory of crime, even though it did not try and empathize what exactly made people criminal but more than societies reactions to crime, it looks towards societys reaction to the degenerate more than to the mortal of the deviant [Williams; 2008, Pg.420]. Previously, Functionalists had discussed reasons for deviance being anomie and incorrect socialising within an individual causing them to be unaware of social norms and fall away from mainstream society. Marxists had blamed the anti-social acts of working class criminals on the oppression and alienation they are faced with through surviving in a capitalist society. Both theories place the true reason for deviance to be within an individual, whereas labelling theory go away from that. Labelling theory, therefore, switches the focus away from searching for the causes of crime in peoples social and psychological background, and onto understanding how deviant situations are created.



This involves understanding how behaviour is put into social contexts some(prenominal) deviant and non-deviant through a definition of a situation, severally society creates deviants and criminals by making rules whose breach will cause deviance or criminality. The rules of any particular society at any particular time are not untransferable [Williams; 2008, Pg. 421]. In terms of crime, Thomas [1923] argues that societies provide ready-made definitions of situations that capture people to both understand whats going on and, more significantly, know how to respond to this behaviour.

Labelling theory developed in a time of social and political unrest when umpteen kinds of established authorities were challenged, The Vietnam War was in full swing, and cultured unrest was breaking out in resistance to the war. The polished rights movement protests were also breaking out especially...If you want to fetch a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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