PART A Working on your own, quickly categorise how each of the following acts are seen in the United Kingdom today. Which ones are: (a) seen as deviant AND are illegal? (b) seen as deviant but are NOT illegal? (c) illegal, but are not necessarily seen as deviant? Rape Using the firm’s telephone for personal calls Adultery Parking too long in a restricted bay Fiddling … [Read more...]
Using the Concept of Labelling
The concept of labelling has been used not only in explaining crime and deviance, but also in other areas of sociology. Suggest ways in which this concept might apply elsewhere, using examples from education, health, age and ethnicity. Who is likely to be labelled and why? What effect can a label have on how people who are labelled are treated and how they behave? … [Read more...]
Drugtakers and The Police: An Amplification Spiral
Jock Young’s study ‘The Drugtakers’ gives us an example of an amplification spiral. He shows how the interactions between a group of hippies and the police produce more crime rather than less. Although the hippies’ drug-taking is initially low, media pressure leads the police to target them. This gradually makes the hippies more secretive about their activities and drug-taking becomes a more … [Read more...]
Labelling Theory : Answers to QuickCheck Questions
Deviance is what is seen and defined as such by others; it is not the act itself that is deviant. False. Secondary deviance is the result of societal reaction. The police, the courts, schools, religious groups, families, the media, peer groups. Once a person is labelled, this label becomes a part of his/her self-concept and +s/he is more likely to turn to deviance again. When a … [Read more...]