Applying the Labeling Perspective to the Alleged Abuse of the CSSA, as Well as Causes and Consequences

What comes to your mind when you hear the words ‘Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme recipients’? Do you treat them equally? Do you commiserate with them? Do you think that they are lazy, jobless and reliant? Most people argued that there is alleged abuse of CSSA. They pointed out that the recipients are lazy, and are dependent on social welfare. This phenomenon can be explained by the labeling theory. I am going to apply the labeling perspective to the alleged abuse of CSSA, and illustrate the causes and consequences.

According to Howard Becker’s labeling theory, ‘deviance is not a quality of the act person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an “offender”.’ (Becker 1995:186) ‘Whether an act is deviant depends on how other people react to it.’ (Becker 1995:188) It is created by society. Correspondingly, the CSSA recipients have been labeled deviant by the society. People regard them as lazy and abusing the CSSA, even though they may not commit the act.

First of all, the government officials label the CSSA recipients deliberately. In 1998, Mr. Andrew Leung, the Director of Social Welfare Department (SWD), claimed that there were many fraud cases among CSSA recipients and ‘CSSA feeds the lazy’ was one of the hottest topics during that period. The government officials used ‘dependency culture’ as a tool to criticize the CSSA recipients. (Lee 2012) They intended to reduce the application of CSSA by constructing such negative image to them and stress the importance of self-reliance. The labeling effect discourages the poor from seeking help from CSSA.

The CSSA information, such as the proportion of cases and amount of financial aid, given by the government to t...

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...friends than before. (Christian Family Service Centre 2001) Besides, over half of the recipients think that their relatives keep a distance from them in order to avoid lending money. About 70% of them are afraid to let others know that they are CSSA recipients. (Christian Family Service Centre 2001) The data indicates that applying CSSA has become a deviant act. The recipients had inferiority complex about their image. Thus, they become passive and resistant to interact with people.

To conclude, the labeling theory is convincing when applying to the alleged abuse of CSSA. The government, mass media and the public are those who create and apply the label. They regard applying CSSA as a deviant behaviour. The label adversely affects the self-image and social participation of CSSA recipients. They are treated like outcast by the society, resulting in social exclusion.