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Labelling Theory Essay

1035 Words5 Pages

In this assignment, I will be outlining and explaining the main features of the Labelling Theory. In addition to this I will also be critically assessing the strengths and weaknesses of this theory. Another name for the Labelling Theory is ‘The Social Reaction Theory’ as it is usually not the action that is important but more so society and their reaction towards it. This theory proposes the idea that deviancy is a social method in relation to power differences but doesn’t touch a reason as to why crimes occur which then leads to labels being given. Deviance is defined as “one that differs from a norm, especially a person whose behaviour and attitudes differ from accepted social standards.” (Collins English Dictionary, 2014) “Social groups create(d) deviance by …show more content…

I will now go on to highlight some of each for the Labelling Theory. One strength of this theory is the fact that it analyses all forms of crimes and criminals rather than looking at only solely official statistics on crimes/criminals. Doing that doesn’t portray a real look at actual crime as there are many crimes that do go unreported for a wide variety of reasons. As a result, this in a way spotlights the weaknesses of official statistics, hence here the National Crime Survey (NCS) comes into action. In addition to this is also does focus on the different reasons for deviance to occur within and between different cultures/lifestyles. One of the disadvantages is that labelling individuals does in fact give the labelled individual a rep/status in some walks of society. Thus, all the focus is then on the offender/labelled individual rather than the victim who is the innocent party in the situation. An example of this being in the circumstances of a gang, when a member robs an item such as a phone, jewellery or money from someone, within their group they are given some form of ‘good rep’ and deem the victim as weak or not

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