DAT and Labeling Theory PDF

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Lectures about the Differential Association Theory and the Labeling Theory. ON MIDTERM....

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Differential Association Theory ● Learning the definitions for crime: ○ Frequency (How often do you hear/see the crime?) ○ Duration (How long have you had a relationship with the person?) ○ Priority in life (How early did you meet the source?) ○ Intensity (How much do I care how the source views me?) ● D.A.T.: The role of social structure ○ 1. Close social relationships ■ Social structure comes into play here ● Eg. Income, neighborhood, education ○ 2. Learn definitions, techniques, and have opportunity ○ 3. Crime ● Labelling Perspective ○ Level of analysis - Cross-level ○ Model of law - Pluralistic ■ Disagree about crimes, law is reflection of disagreement ○ Deviance is caused by - Labeling process (reaction by important groups) ■ Importance of primary groups ● Family ● Peers ● Teachers ● Coworkers ■ Importance of organizations ● Education ● Police ○ A behavior is not deviant until it is labeled deviant ○ Tennenbaum’s The Dramatization of Evil ■ Behaviors are neutral until someone brings them up, dramatizes then, and then label as evil ○ Lemert’s Labeling ■ Reaction of labelled → self-fulfilling prophecy ○ Perspective ■ Primary vs. secondary deviance ■ Deviance (not too serious) → reaction → Adoption of criminal/deviant identity → more serious (secondary) deviance

○ Role of Social Structure ■ Crime is dependent on role-taking process ■ What is role of social structure? ● Inequality in society ● Powerful create/apply labels ● Powerless become “subject” of labelling ○ Adopt the criminal/deviant identity ● Increase in criminal behavior (self-fulfilling prophecy) ● Critiques of D.A.T. and Labelling ○ Overly deterministic ■ “Over-socialized” view of humans ○ Core critiques of D.A.T. ■ Society is not in disagreement over the law ■ Measuring “definitions favorable” is tricky ○ Core critiques of Labelling ■ Focuses on labelling process and fails to explain primary deviance ■ Proposed process = further deviance? ■ Extreme position on behavioral relativism - nothing is bad until society labels it as such...