American History X Labeling Theory

American History X is a film about two brotherS and how their lives drastically changed when their father was murdered. The movie is about discrimination and racism. Derek Vineyard, was the main character in the movie, who then turned into a racist when his father died "in the line of duty" by a minority and when Derek killed two African American men who were trying to rob him. Prior to Derek going to prison, he already had his mind set that blacks were bad people and that the white race was superior.

While Derek was in prison, he realized that there are good and bad people in every race. In order to prevent his brother, Danny, from making the same mistakes, Derek told him to have an open mind and forget all things that they were taught when they were part of the Neo-Nazi group. This film presents two theories: differential association and labeling theory.

Differential association is a learning theory that focuses on how people learn to commit crime. Associating with antisocial peers is a major cause of crime. In the movie, differential association was depicted when Derek associated himself with the Neo-Nazi group; he began living a deviant lifestyle by destroying a grocery store that was owned by an immigrant from Korea.

It is associated with the concepts of stereotyping. The part of the film that presents this theory is when Derek's father was killed by a minority and when he killed two black men that tried robbing him, which basically gave blacks the title or label of being criminals. In addition to labeling theory, racism was also portrayed heavily in the movie when; Danny was asked by Seth on who he hated and Danny replied "I hate anyone who isn't white Protestant. They are a burden to the white race." Also, their father already had planted the seed of racism on their