6.3.3: Labeling Theory

 6.3.3: Labeling Theory

 Suppose for one undesirable moment that people think of you as a “whore,” a “pervert,” or a “cheat.” (Pick one.)

 What power such a reputation would have—over both how others would see you and how you would see yourself. 

How about if you became known as “very intelligent,” “truthful in everything,” or “honest to the core”? (Choose one.) 

You can see how this type of reputation would give people different expectations of your character and behavior—and how the label would also shape the way you see yourself.

 This is what labeling theory focuses on: the significance of labels (or reputations), how they help set us on paths that propel us into deviance or divert us away from it.

 Rejecting Labels: 

How People Neutralize Deviance Not many of us want to be called “whore,” “pervert,” or “cheat.” We resist negative labels, even lesser ones than these that others might try to pin on us. Did you know that some people are so successful at rejecting labels that even though they beat people up and vandalize property, they consider themselves to be conforming members of society? How do they do it?

Sociologists Gresham Sykes and David Matza (1957/1988) studied boys like this. They found that the boys used five techniques of neutralization to deflect society’s norms. Five Techniques of Neutralization In the following Applying Sociology to Your Life, consider how you use these five techniques of neutralization.

Applying Sociology to Your Life

 How Do You Use Techniques of Neutralization to Protect Your Self Concept?

 It is not only delinquents who try to neutralize the norms of mainstream society. 

Even people involved in mass killing use these techniques (Bryant et al. 2018).

 How about you?

Even though you are neither a delinquent nor a terrorist, you use these same techniques as part of your everyday life.

 As we look at these techniques one by one, I’ll try to find examples that you might have used at some time. 

They should sound familiar. Denial of responsibility: 

“I was so mad that I couldn’t help myself.” Denial of injury: “You can say what you want, but who really got hurt?”

 Denial of a victim: “Don’t you think she deserved that, after what she did?” Condemnation of the condemners:

 “Who are you to talk?” Appeal of higher loyalties: “I had to help my friends—wouldn’t you have done the same thing?”

 All of us attempt to neutralize the moral demands of society. Neutralization helps us to sleep at night.

How do you use techniques of neutralization to protect your self concept?

 Credit: PeopleImages/E+/Getty Images For Your Consideration →

 What other statements have you made (to others or to yourself) to help deflect the norms of society?

 → How do the techniques of neutralization that you use help protect your self concept? 

→ Can you think of any techniques of neutralization that people use other than these five? 173 

Embracing Labels: 

The Example of Outlaw Bikers Years ago, in a defensive statement, the American Motorcyclists’ Association said that 99 percent of motorcyclists are law abiding citizens, that only 1 percent are thugs and criminals.

The Outlaws, Hells Angels, and Warlocks then began to proudly display 1 percent on their uniforms (Stutzman 2014). 

Sociologist Mark Watson (1980/2006) did participant–observation with outlaw bikers. 

He rebuilt Harleys with them, hung around their bars and homes, and went on “runs” (trips) with them. 

He concluded that outlaw bikers see the world as “hostile, weak, and effeminate.”

 Holding the conventional world in contempt, gang members pride themselves on breaking its norms and getting in trouble, laughing at death, and treating women as lesser beings whose primary value is to provide them with services—especially sex.

 They take pleasure in shocking people by their appearance and behavior. 

They pride themselves in looking “dirty, mean, and generally undesirable.” 

Outlaw bikers also regard themselves as losers, a view that is woven into their unusual embrace of deviance. 

Although most of us resist attempts to label us as deviant, it is not only outlaw bikers who revel in a deviant identity. By their clothing, music, hairstyles, and body art, some teenagers make certain that no one misses their rejection of adult norms. Their status among fellow members of a subculture—within which they are almost obsessive conformists—is vastly more important than any status outside it. Gallery Embracing Deviance Image Viewer Preview Hens13e_UP Ch6 - Gallery: Embracing Deviance

 

While most people resist labels of deviance, some embrace them. In what different ways do these photos illustrate the embracement of deviance? Credit: 

Labels can Be Powerful To label a teenager a delinquent can trigger a process that leads to greater involvement in deviance (Dong and Krohn 2019). 

Because of this, judges sometimes use diversion: To avoid the label of delinquent, they divert youthful offenders away from the criminal justice system.

Instead of sending them to reform school or jail, they assign them to social workers and counselors. In the following Thinking Critically about Social Life, let’s consider how powerful labeling can be

Thinking Critically about Social Life The Saints and the Roughnecks: 

Labeling in Everyday Life As you recall from Chapter 4, the Saints and the Roughnecks were high school boys. 

Both groups were “constantly occupied with truancy, drinking, wild parties, petty theft, and vandalism.” Yet their teachers looked on the Saints as “headed for success” and the Roughnecks as “headed for failure.” By the time they finished high school, not one Saint had been arrested, while the Roughnecks had been in constant trouble with the police. 

Why did the members of the community perceive these boys so differently? 

Chambliss concluded that social class created this split vision. 

As symbolic interactionists emphasize, social class is like a lens that focuses our perceptions. 

The Saints came from respectable, middle-class families, while the Roughnecks were from less respectable, working-class families. These backgrounds led teachers and the authorities to expect good things from the Saints but trouble from the Roughnecks. 

And, like the rest of us, teachers and police saw what they expected to see.

The boys’ social class also affected their visibility. 

The Saints had automobiles, and they did their drinking and vandalism out of town. 

Without cars, the Roughnecks hung around their own street corners. 

There, their drinking and boisterous behavior drew the attention of police, confirming the negative impressions that the community already had of them. 

The boys’ social class also equipped them with distinct styles of interaction. 

When police or teachers questioned them, the Saints were apologetic. 

Their show of respect for authority elicited a positive reaction from teachers and police, allowing the Saints to escape school and legal problems.

 The Roughnecks, said Chambliss, were “almost the polar opposite.” When questioned, they were hostile. 

Even when these boys tried to assume a respectful attitude, everyone could see through it. As a result, the teachers and police let the Saints off with warnings, but they came down hard on the Roughnecks

Stereotypes, both positive and negative, help to form the perception and reaction of authorities. What stereotypes come to mind when you look at this photo? Credit: Grandriver/E+/Getty Images

Certainly, what happens in life is not determined by labels alone, but the Saints and the Roughnecks did live up to the labels that the community gave them. 

As you may recall, all but one of the Saints went on to college. 

One earned a Ph.D., one became a lawyer, one a doctor, and the others business managers. In contrast, only two of the Roughnecks went to college. 

They earned athletic scholarships and became coaches. 

The other Roughnecks did not fare so well.

 Two of them dropped out of high school, later became involved in separate killings, and were sent to prison.

 Of the final two, one became a local bookie, and no one knows the whereabouts of the other.

For Your Consideration 

→ Besides labels, what else could have been involved in the life outcomes of these boys? → In what areas of life do you see the power of labels?

How Do Labels Work? 

How labels work is complicated because they involve self-concepts and reactions that vary from one individual to another.

 To analyze this process would require a book. 

For our purposes, let’s just note that unlike its meaning in sociology, in everyday life the term deviant is emotionally charged with negative judgment. 

This label closes doors of opportunity. 

It can lock people out of conforming groups and push them into almost exclusive contact with people who have been similarly labeled.

Hearing from Students Understanding Deviance in Social Life Play Hearing from StudentsUnderstanding Deviance in Social Life

 In Sum Symbolic interactionists examine how people’s definitions of the situation underlie their deviating from or conforming to social norms. They focus on group membership (differential association), how people balance pressures to conform and to deviate (control theory), and the significance of people’s reputations (labeling theory).