The Labeling Theory Of Deviance And Crime

According to the textbook, deviance is defined as "the recognized violation of cultural norms" while crime is defined as "the violation of a society's formally enacted criminal law". While there are many different theories that explain wh y people commit acts of deviance and crime, there are three micro level theories referenced in the text. The
Labeling Theory, the Differential Association Theory, and the Control Theory all help to explain why people behave in deviant ways. Becker's Labe ling Theory of deviance involves a few different components that explain why people behave the way they do.
It is defined as the idea that deviance and conformity result from how others respond to actions. From there, deviance can be broken down
into two d ifferent types: primary and secondary deviance. Primary deviance leads to secondary deviance once an audience deems a certain behavior as deviant. The deviant individual will then take on a new role almost out of rebellion. Next, deviant individuals can be labeled with a stigma, or a negative label that changes a person's self
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concept and social identity. Many of the people in prison will forever have a stigma as being a criminal and probably even by what they did to end up in prison. These criminals are la beled with this stigma through a degradation ceremony. The final two types of labeling are retrospective labeling, and projective labeling. Retrospective labeling is the reinterpretation of the person's past in light of some present deviance. Projective la beling is using a person's deviant identity to predict the person's future actions, which can have detrimental effects psychologically on the deviant individual. Labeling can often lead to the mistaken distinction between
"difference" and mental illness.
The next explanation of deviant behavior is
Sutherland's Differential Association theory, which in this case is a person's tendency