‘Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of labelling theory in explaining crime and deviance’ (21 marks)

Labelling theory is a micro approach that looks at how individuals construct society based on their interactions with each other (item). In terms of crime and deviance, labelling theory argues that most people commit deviant and criminal acts but only some are caught and stigmatised for it. So therefore, it is not useful to search for differences between ‘deviants’ and ‘non-deviants’ in society. Labelling theorists believe focus on crime should be understanding the reaction to and definition of deviance rather than the causes of the initial act.
One labelling theorist, Becker, suggests the idea of crime as a social construct. He argues that an act only becomes deviant when it is defined as such by others, and that a criminal will only be labelled depending on society’s reaction to the crime. Becker argues that those people that have the power to create and impose their definitions on the rest of society such as the police are called moral entrepreneurs, reinforcing that crime and deviance is a construction of society. In addition to this, Becker argues that there is selective decisions as to whether to or how to deal with illegal or deviant behaviour. He calls this ‘selective law enforcement’ and suggests that police act on their own stereotypes and pre-conceptions on how to respond to the deviance and crime they come across. Labelling theorists are interested in who gets labelled most often and why. This is useful to our understanding of crime and deviance as it can highlight which social groups are most likely to be convicted or targeted by the police and why. For example, young black males are more likely to be stopped and search than any other social group; this theory allows us to understand why crime statistics may show specific