When individuals are given a certain title in the society even that which doesn’t really describe them, it is natural that they adapt to it as a defense mechanism. Criminal behavior can be caused by sociological conditions if a family member engages in crime, the society may brand ones entire origin as so hence one may adapt to such definitions as a way of fighting stereotypes. Labeling is a sociological approach that aims at explaining if criminal actions are predictable from individuals past compromising behaviors. It is very evidential that an individual living in a stereotypic community might be led to criminal actions even though they didn’t plan on it (Becker, 2018). If this individual had previously shown some rebellion while growing up, society members can label him/her as a future criminal. Therefore, in a state to rebel against these stereotypes, a person can actually become a criminal out of anger.
Labeling Theory
Originally, the labeling theory came from a book called “Suicide” written by Emile Durkheim a French socialist. According to him, crime was not much of a penal code violation rather it was society outrages. Therefore, he suggested through labeling theory that individuals obtain different tags from how others view their behaviors and tendencies. George Herbert Mead further suggested that an individual’s self is constructed and reconstructed according to how they interact with the community. The labeling theory also further suggests that individuals know how others judge and view them (Becker, 2018). Through attempting various roles, one can gauge how people react and if the response is not satisfactory, one could be forced to adopt the worst character available. In the same way, children learn about people and things, so does an adult's mind construct self-image. Such assumptions are made mentally through imaginary and real interactions when individuals hold internal conversations in their mind.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Self-image is easily constructed internally when we consider how others are thinking about us. Therefore, according to George Herbert Mead social-interactionism theory, outside judgment has the biggest impact on someone’s identity formation. According to Thomas Scheff who focused more on labeling in mentally ill persons, he was of the opinion that societal reactions are the major determinants to this chronic disease. He stated that from when people are young, their elder’s get them accustomed to labels like crazy, nuts and loony. Therefore, if an individual dares to behave in a manner that is outside social norms, he or she is directly judged as a mentally ill person (Becker, 2018). Once a person receives such a role in the society, negative responses from those around begin to be experienced and later the individual starts internalizing same views hence dictating the character of a mentally ill.
Frank Tannenbaum on his crime and community research supported labeling theory by further showing that tags given to people lead to said behaviors. His study used a delinquent youth to show that one’s this person was aware of the label, they would get more involved in such activities. Initially, the tag might be adopted as just an identity but with time the more attention it gets, the individual starts seeing themselves as such hence starts behaving so. According to Edwin Lemart, the more a society condemned certain behaviors of a person, the more the individual felt the need to sink deep into such practices. After he introduced the Labeling theory, Howard Becker succeeded him by describing how a deviant role is adopted. Howard used his colleagues who were dance musicians as test subjects to the theory. By further studying how the identity of marijuana smokers is formed, he realized that being treated as an outsider had its contribution. Therefore Howard concluded that deviance was not the quality of acts committed by a person but rather the consequence of the role sanctioned to that individual.
Concepts of Labeling Theory
There are various concepts related to labeling theory like self-identity, stereotyping, social-interactionism, social-construction, symbolic-interaction and secondary deviance. Self-identity is defined by how one views themselves in terms of role and character. Society has however been seen to be a determinant in this and at times diverging positive minds into negative ones. By judging your character according to how others see you can lead to toxic thoughts due to inconsiderate people in society. Deviant people are often stereotyped by society according to the majority’s actions (Barrick, 2017). One hence get stigmatized and later acts as a criminal for self-defense.
Social interactionism is another concept of labeling theory that focuses on how the brain comes up with self-image. The concept explains that one’s mind is capable of perceiving what others in society think of them and from there forms an identity. Therefore, this means that society members hold an individual’s identity in their hands. If they think a person is good, he or she will turn out so and the reverse applies.
Reasons for Criminal Activities
According to the theory, crimes occur because members of a society provide the conditions necessary to the formation of a criminal mind. There are steps that can be followed to find out why criminal activities occur, they include;
The processes
By stereotyping individuals going through a rough time to criminal associations, society is being responsible for the increasing crime rate globally. In most cases, a criminal mindset starts at adolescence when an individual’s brain is very delicate. When at this stage in life, deviant characters are often realized (Jonson, 2017). Individuals begin to portray aggressiveness when questioned about certain actions. Without knowing that these kind of social disobedience behaviors are common among teenagers, members of the society start treating such individuals to criminal references. As a way of reacting against such identifications, these individuals sink more into aggressiveness and later criminal activities.
The conditions
The society and an individual’s mind are the biggest conditions for crime activities enhancement. Once the society perceives an individual as a criminal, it is only a matter of time before that person concurs and adapts to that mindset. Once an individual is convinced that they behave like criminals, the next step is usually acting like one (Barrick, 2017). The society does not help since it further stigmatizes such individuals rather than seeking necessary help for them.
Concepts
To commit a crime, some internal concepts like self-identity, symbolic interactions and stereotype have to be present. The kind of company one interacts with may be one of the justifications a society uses when labeling an individual as a criminal. Even when one is not a criminal but behaves like one, the tag he or she receives from the community is strong enough to result in criminal activities (Jonson, 2017). Stereotyping causes stigma in individuals who are labeled criminals because of compromising behaviors. Due to stigma and pressure from the society, such individuals have a high rate of engaging in criminal actions.
Human behavior assumptions
People in society have a tendency to be judgmental towards others especially those acting outside the norm. Such assumptions like because someone dresses like a thug he or she has to be one could lead to rebellious actions which are mostly violent.
Labeling Theory Inspirations
The theory was inspired by social interactions from multiple writers’ point of view. They, however, made a conclusion that each community contributes greatly to its member's behaviors (Barrick, 2017). The theory was further explained through various concepts that proved just how much what others think of an individual leads to self-consciousness.
Supporting Evidence
Not all criminal activities are triggered by societal stereotype. However, the most common like violent crimes, robbery, and rape cases can be externally triggered. Some crimes like property theft may even go unnoticed since individuals involved have no stigmatization problems that trigger their actions. Other criminal perpetrators like hackers are even ignored since skills are used and not force (Cohen, 2017). Those who act violently while committing crimes are more likely to have negative societal influence hence they act as if issuing punishment to those who hurt them.
Urban areas have the most criminal cases due to the deterioration of community morals and also the rate of civilization involved. Those living in the same community mostly know too much about each other hence if one changes how they behave or act, judgments follow. In rural areas, people live far from each other and hence have little to say about their fellows. Therefore, due to the high flow of information in urban areas, people tend to stereotype others more than in rural areas hence the high crime rate.
Crimes related to rich people have little influence from societal stigma compared to those in financially unstable communities. Financially strained areas have higher levels of criminal activities since members of such societies keep pointing fingers to individuals who may look different from normal. Like if an individual dress better than the rest, people would say he/she robbed another to afford such clothing’s. With time this fellow grows tired of accusations and commits the crime he/she is accused of every time (Cohen, 2017). In financially stable localities, no one has the interest in the wealth of the other. Therefore, accusations and stigmatization from stereotypes are limited.
Conclusion
The mind is a very delicate body part that receives and processes information then reacts to them through physical actions. When people talk bad things about someone, he or she will end up thinking that they are like that and eventually act like it. Being stereotyped as a criminal because of how one behaves or portrays themselves leads to such behaviors. An individual gets tired of being stigmatized and fights back with the criminal actions they are often accused of. Such a phenomenon in society has best been described in the labeling theory.
References
Barrick, K. (2017). A review of prior tests of labeling theory. In Labeling Theory (pp. 97-120). Routledge.
Becker, H. S. (2018). Labeling theory reconsidered 1. In Deviance and social control (pp. 41-66). Routledge.
Cohen, S. (2017). Against criminology. Routledge.
Johnson, C. L., & Cullen, F. T. (2017). Labeling Theory and Correctional Rehabilitation: Beyond Unanticipated Consequences. In Labeling Theory (pp. 71-94). Routledge.
