Chapter 12: Labeling and critical criminologies

Abstract

Chapter 12 examines three perspectives that focus on social and societal reactions to delinquency: the labeling perspective, critical criminologies, and feminist criminology. The labeling perspective considers how and why certain behaviors and individuals get labeled “delinquent” or “deviant,” as well as the consequences of that labeling process. This perspective argues that labeling an individual “delinquent,” either informally or formally, increases the likelihood of future offending. Much of the research that has tested this argument has been supportive of the labeling perspective. Critical criminologies view capitalism as the root cause of crime and delinquency and the determinant of social responses to offending. Critical perspectives share a focus on power and inequality in understanding crime and crime control. Chapter 12 presents three critical approaches to the causes of delinquency: Colvin and Pauly’s integrated structural-Marxist theory, Hagan’s power-control theory, and Greenberg’s Marxist interpretation of delinquency. Feminist criminologists have provided a critical perspective on crime and delinquency that places gender at the center of attempts to understand offending and responses to it. Chapter 12 considers both liberal and radical feminist approaches.

Theories

• theory of reintegrative shaming
• integrated structural-Marxist theory
• power-control theory
• Greenberg’s Marxist interpretation of delinquency

Key Terms

• labeling perspective
• critical criminologies
• dramatization of evil
• primary deviance
• secondary deviance
• reflected appraisals of self
• reintegrative shaming
• stigmatization
• interdependency
• communitarianism
• deviance amplification
• stigma
• patriarchal families
• egalitarian families
• masculine status anxiety
• feminism
• liberal feminism
• radical feminism
• patriarchy

Outline

1. The labeling perspective
   1. Imposing the label of “deviant” or “delinquent”
      1. Formal societal reactions to deviance: dramatizing evil
      2. Primary and secondary deviance: identity and self-fulfilling prophecy
   2. The emergence of “labeling theory”
   3. The creation and enforcement of social rules
   4. Informal reactions: labeling as an interpersonal process
   5. Braithwaite’s theory of reintegrative shaming
   6. Consequences of labeling: stigma or deterrence?
      1. Formal sanctions: stigma or deterrence?
      2. Informal reactions: stigma or deterrence?
   7. Who is labeled, and based on whose rules?
2. Critical criminologies
   1. Major themes of critical criminologies
   2. Colvin and Pauly’s integrated structural-Marxist theory of delinquency
      1. Workplace control structures
      2. Family control structures
      3. School control structures
      4. Peer associations and control structures
   3. Hagan’s power-control theory of delinquency
   4. Greenberg’s Marxist interpretation of delinquency
      1. Adolescent labor force participation and social life
      2. School experiences and delinquency
      3. Masculine status anxiety
3. Feminist criminology
   1. Early feminist critiques of criminology and the criminal justice system
   2. Liberal feminism
   3. Radical feminism
4. Summary and conclusions