Identify the various criticisms of labeling theory, and explain ...

[bobbysung]

Identify the various criticisms of labeling theory, and explain why it experienced a resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Discuss the process of labeling theory as it relates to delinquency. Be sure to include the sequence stages of interaction as defined by Lemert.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 3

According to labeling theory, deviance that is a consequence of societal reaction to an initial delinquent act is called ________ deviation.
 
  Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).

[jesse.fleming]

Answer to Question 1

The answer should include the following points:

• exaggerated role of labeling


• failure to answer several critical questions:


• Are the conceptions that we hold of one another (as conformist or deviant) actually correct?


• Whose label really counts?


• When is personal identity changed by the labeling process, and by whose stigmatizing effort is it altered?


• Does a bad name cause bad action?


• Is the social response to crime generated more by the fact of the crime or by the legally irrelevant social characteristics of the offender?


• If official labels are so important, why do so many youths mature out of delinquency during their later adolescent years?

Answer to Question 2

The answer should include the following points:

• The process of making the criminal is a process of tagging, defining, identifying, segregating, describing, emphasizing, and making conscious and self-conscious.


• According to Lemert, the sequence of interaction leading to secondary deviation is roughly as follows:

(1) primary deviation
(2) social penalties
(3) further primary deviation
(4) stronger penalties and rejection
(5) further deviation, perhaps with hostilities and resentment beginning to focus upon those doing the penalizing
(6) crisis reached in the tolerance quotient, expressed in formal action by the community stigmatizing of the deviant
(7) strengthening of the deviant conduct as a reaction to the stigmatizing and penalties
( ultimate acceptance of deviant social status and efforts at adjustment on the basis of the associated role

Answer to Question 3

Answer: secondary