Unveiling Criminal Labels: A Sociological Examination of Labelling Theory in the Globalized Age

Introduction

In the recent era of globalisation, the rate of crime across the world is increasing such as robbery and murder as well as rush drives etc. and in this regard, it is necessary to label the criminals in the society and punish them for reducing the rate of crime in future (Matthews, 2016). In this regard, the aim of the study is to analyse the labelling theory which is a sociological theory to identify the criminals in the society. Hereby, evaluation of labelling theory and its effects in the society will be discussed further.

Essay plan

The essay is related to crime, which is one of the controversial topics in the recent years as the crime rate across the globe is increasing at a rapid rate. The study focuses on analysing the labelling theory and identifies its strengths and weaknesses so that it would be possible to evaluate the effects of labelling theory which is a sociological concept. In this paper, the labelling theory will be described, where it would be understandable that, who the person in the society are get labelled and how the theory helps to improve the social constitution and provide a scope to improve social values by reducing the crime rate in the society. First of all, the labelling theory will be discussed and after that, the strengths and weaknesses will be evaluated in this essay. Secondly, it would be possible to relate the labelling theory with the incident of crime where the person, with deviant behaviour and actions in the society such as robbery, rape and criminal offence will be labelled and it would be easy for the society to identify the deviant behavioural individuals and improve the society by punishing them.

Labelling theory

Labelling theory is the self identity and the behaviour of the individuals that may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe that person or classify them. For example, robbing a store and driving faster than the normal seed limit are the deviant behaviours where the labelling theory possesses deviance is socially constructors through the reaction instead of the actions, in sociology, labelling theory determines the view of the deviance according to which being labelled as a deviant leads to engage in deviant behaviour, where the society can identify the criminals in the society (Chung, 2019). Labelling theory is popular in the society in order to label the deviants in the society where the society views certain actions as deviant which often lace as mental disorder or illness who exhibit abnormal actions in the society. As per the labelling theory, the concept asks why the person is designated as deviant in the society where it is the process by which the deviants are determined by the rest of the society.

Strengths

The major strength of the labelling theory is that it highlights the reasons for differences in deviance between the cultures where it is easy to determine the deviants in the society. It shows that law is often enforced in a discriminatory way where the deviants should be punished in the society due to their diverse behaviour and deviant related activities in the social communities. It shows the ways to reduce the crime rate in the society where the individuals and the police are engaged to punish the deviant person in the society (Bruinsma, 2016).

Weaknesses

The major weaknesses of thee labelling theory are such as it ignores the individuals who actively pursue deviance as well as it fails to explain the way people commit primary deviance in the society. The theory also fails to recognise the owner of creating deviance but it fails to analyse the source instead of focusing on middle range officials such as police officers. Effective punishment cannot be established through the theory where the criminals in the society should be punished.

Labelling

Labelling is the process of describing something or someone ion the society according to their actions. It is helpful to label the people who are engaged with crime in the society and it provides a scope to control and identify the deviant behaviour in the society. Labelling is hereby necessary for communication and identifies the criminals in the society with the help of the police officers (Becker, 2018).

People gets labelled

The criminals in the society are labelled according to their deviant behaviour and diverse crime related activities. For example, the individual who are engaged in robbery and the people who are driving with higher speed than the normal car speed are labelled in the society as criminals. Apart from that, the people who are the victims in the society for theft, robbery, rape and the crime related activities are labelled as deviants in the society as per the concept of labelling theory.

Effects of labelling

Through the labelling theory, it is possible to influence the society to correct their actions and improve their behaviour to improve their standard of living. Apart from that, it helps to create some social rules and apply on the individuals with deviant behaviour to reduce the crime rate in the society and improve the environment of the social communities in long run. Hereby, the society can improve their social values by labelling theory through which it is possible to punish the individuals with deviant behaviour and actions in the society and reduce the crime rate in future (Newman and Wolfgang, 2017).

Conclusion

It can be concluded that the labelling theory is effective to identify the criminals in the society where the theory gives a scope to label the individuals according to their actions and deviant behaviour. The social communities can identify the individuals in the society according to their deviant behaviour where for example the individuals, engaged with the activities such as robbery, rush driving and rape, are determined as deviant person according to the labelling theory and the individuals are labelled in the society. Hereby, the labelling theory helps the society to identify the deviant behavioural person and punish them to reduce the crime rate in the society.

Reference List

Becker, H.S., 2018. Labelling theory reconsidered 1. In Deviance and social control (pp. 41-66). London: Routledge.

Bruinsma, G., 2016. Proliferation of crime causation theories in an era of fragmentation: Reflections on the current state of criminological theory. European Journal of Criminology, 13(6), pp.659-676.

Chung, A., 2019. Theoretical Perspectives on Organised Crime. In Chinese Criminal Entrepreneurs in Canada, Volume I (pp. 33-68). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Matthews, R., 2016. Realist criminology, the new aetiological crisis and the crime drop. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 5(3), p.2.

Newman, G.R. and Wolfgang, M.E., 2017. Comparative deviance: Perception and law in six cultures. London: Routledge.