In one of the readings assigned in class this week the “Outsiders” written by Howard S. Becker, Becker defines an outsider as people who break rules agreed upon by the majority of the group. Becker also states that rule breakers often perceive a person who enforces a rule as an outsider. I recently came across an article titled “Social Reaction (Labeling) Theory: Pros, Cons and Effects on Society” written by Shawn Cunningham. Within the article Cunningham states that when a person is labeled as being a criminal by society; they are likely to accept this label as part of themselves. When a person views themselves as being a criminal they are more likely to continue to exhibit criminal behavior. Cunningham goes on to say that primary deviance begins with an initial criminal act, after which an individual might be labeled as a criminal or deviant person but does not accept this label. A criminal label is placed on an individual during the “degradation ceremony” in which the accused is labeled as a criminal. Cunningham also states that Becker’s work focuses primarily on the way society reacts to people with “criminal” labels. Cunningham believes that Becker proposes that this label becomes a person’s “master status,” which means that this is a constant label, affecting and over-riding how other individuals view them. The status people use to identify and classify a person will always be that of a criminal. A person could have the label of a parent, employee or spouse but the primary and major status that will come to mind to other people and themselves is that of a criminal. In the article Cunningham also inserts a YouTube video of a social psychology experiment by Sarah Lisenbe from Mississippi State University indicating social reactions labeling theory and the effects on society by demonstrating how individuals are less likely to break the rules of society with a look at conformity to gender roles. Within the experiment there are two glass doors that lead to the same area; one door is labeled “men only” and the other door is labeled “women only,” not wanting to break the rules of society both men and women make sure to go through the appropriate door, regardless of the fact that the door of the opposite sex is actually the closest to them. With this experiment Lisenbe illustrates how individuals are most likely to follow the rules of society, so that they do not risk the chance of being labeled deviant.
Article with video below:
Labeling in society can be helpful to a certain degree. Only when it applies to all societies. There are some universal deviance in no matter what society the label will the same, i.e murder or theft. But when you base your own society’s thinking into another persons thinking that is from the outside, then labeling them as deviants or outsiders should not be applied. Creating these labels only helps those who need self assurance in what they are doing is correct according to their norms of society and do not want to be also viewed as an outsider in their respective community because they also do not want to be labeled that way. Creating a outsider is easier to also secure one self as a normal being in the community because first you can recognize what is seen as an outsider action and second you now also know to avoid being an outsider by not making the same action. Deviant behavior is only deviant to those that respond to it as as such. Given that everyone grows up in a different society, who really can say what is truly deviant or not. Even universal deviance such as murder and theft can be acceptable in certain situations such as war times. Those actions in a time of war are acceptable even though the people performing such actions are clearly doing something very wrong in a universal sense. Does the label of deviance and being outsider justify anything, or is it just to help everyone survive in their own space.