Essay On Labelling Theory

The ‘New Criminology’, first published in 1973, was written to criticize all previous criminological theories, positivistic and classical however, were the main focus of critique and to eliminate crime and destroy inequality in a system which has the duality of freedom, and constraint simultaneously (Walklate, 2007). The three Neo-Marxists, Ian Taylor, with criminological theory, Paul Walton, with Marxist perspectives and Jock Young, and his strength in labelling theory approaches, incorporated all their strengths in order to create a fully reached criminological and sociological theory which would critique previous schools and expose their weaknesses(Walton, Taylor, Young, 1988). The general components of ‘New Criminology’, consists of the

Whilst ‘New Criminology’ was being developed in the ‘Golden Age’ of 1955-65, the contemporary sociological theories were two exclusion based theories, Sub-cultural and Labelling theory (Walton, Taylor, Young, 1988) However the latter was more influential alongside Interactionism. Labelling theory focuses on how the societal reaction causes the ‘outsider’ to become internally convinced of the status therefore engaging in ‘delinquent’ ways, this falls hand in hand with Edwin Lemerts research, substantial part of labelling theory, arguing there are two categories of deviants, primary and secondary. The social response may lead the offender to making changes to their self-conception and become deviant through secondary sources and primary deviancy is when the person had no previous judgment from society, so no psychic shift in the individuals structure (Newburn, 2013). The social control leads to deviancy, or three things, mass rule breaking which isn 't classed as deviant, until society labels it so, the actor will become deviant and the social control agencies produce deviancy (Walton, Taylor, Young, 1998). Another dominant theorist was Howard Becker, who focused on shifting the attention from the act itself but towards deviance as a whole, that deviance is caused by rules of social norms (Newburn, 2013) He was with concerned with two areas of focus; first, the

Focusing on how actions are understood, modified, refined and developed (Walklate, 2007). There are two aspects of symbolic interactionism was invented; ethnomethodology and phenomenology, the former meaning the everyday actions that are socially constructed, and if one does not abide by these actions, create suspicions from society and the latter meaning that there are aspects of social structures to be understood from the subjective experience. (Newburn, 2013). With Labelling theory and Interactionism being apart of ‘New Criminology’, the connections between Marxism really do answer a lot of questions retaining social order and