Labeling Theory of Deviance Term Paper

Labeling Theory of Deviance

Labeling theory integrate well into radical criminology as it perceives criminal behavior to be defined by society. The powerful in the society like the judges, parents, police, to mention but a few tend to label the less powerful. Ones conduct is never classified as right or wrong but as a deviant behavior. It is not only criminal behaviors that are treated as deviant. The society's alcoholics and the mentally hill are also perceived to be showcasing deviant behaviors. Labeling leads to creation of stigma and modification of self-image (Wright, Gronfein, & Owens, 2000). The element of stigma comes about when the public takes to condemning and exclusion of a criminal. The criminal is avoided and treated with suspicion. He is barred from certain types of employments (Macionis & Gerber, 2011). Their own families may even reject them. The police also give them undue attention. The element of modification of self-image sets in as a result of the stigma that a given criminal is subjected to. There is a self-fulfilling prophecy where an individual becomes the person being described by the label. The label becomes a role and the individual changes that life to suit that role. As more crimes are committed an individual forms an identity that of criminal and its associated values, attitudes, and beliefs a process that is called deviance amplification. Intervention like punishment meted out on these behaviors reinforces an individual's perception of being a criminal (Macionis & Gerber, 2011). According to labeling theory of deviance, crime is not a violation of a penal code but an act that outrages a society. The society labels to control behaviors. The self is constructed and reconstructed through the interactions an individual has with the community.People obtain labels from how others view their interactions. Deviance is perceived to be a failure to conform to the rules observed by members of the society. A person is labeled to have offended against a society's social or moral norms of behavior. Society's cardinal role in this respect is to designate breaches or rules as deviant. The person considered to have breached the norms is treated differently depending on the seriousness of the breach. The more differential the treatment, the more an individual self-image is affected. The society provides very special roles for deviant behaviors. And once more these are called deviant and stigmatic roles (Macionis & Gerber, 2011). To build more on what had been ventilated earlier, social roles are expectations people have about behavior. For a society or a group to function there has to be social roles which are necessary for organization. Deviant behaviors include criminal and non-criminal activities. Deviant roles affect how an individual perceives those who are assigned the roles. It also affects how deviant actors perceive themselves and their relationship to the society. Attaching labels to deviant roles lead to some sort of social stigma (Macionis & Gerber, 2011). A labeled person is considered to be different from others. Stigmatic roles are used to control and limit deviant behaviors. Members of the society who exhibit deviant behaviors are considered to be social deviants. One is to be stigmatized upon breaching given rules depending on the significance of the moral or the tenet it represents. As a matter of fact, adultery may be considered a breach of an informal rule or it may as well be criminalized, depending on the status of the….....