Labelling of People as Deviants - Essay Example

?Running head: Labelling Labelling Insert Insert Grade Insert 25 July Labelling of people as deviants creates a self-fulfilling prophesy in the sense that people eventually become what they are portrayed as being (Ritzer, 2008, 369-380). As a result, it has been conceived that the best way to nurture a constructive society is through cultivating better ideals via positive labelling where people are encouraged to do good and be responsible rather than demonizing them with all sorts of insults, which may affect their self image. At the heart of this concept is the self perception that determines how people perceive themselves. Self-image is a self picture through which an individual perceives him/herself. Incidentally, self image is a function of several factors including speech and nurturing. It has been proven that negative comments of people may influence how they perceive themselves and end up with destructive habits. Labelling plays a very significant role in shaping self-perception and could definitely become a self fulfilling prophecy through which individuals resort to the behaviours described in labelling. Several studies have been carried out on adolescents more so regarding their indulgence in delinquency. Majority of these studies opine that young people indulge into criminal activities as a result of poor self-image, which partly emanates from labelling. Such labelling may be from parents, family members, friends, peers and wider society. Therefore, it becomes apparent that society is directly responsible for the ills that bedevil it. Labelling people negatively affects their self-image and leads them to become devious in the long run. To counter labelling people as devious, society ought to develop positive labelling techniques which will produce good behaviour from people in society, thus, reducing the incidences of delinquency and crime. This paper discuses the statement ‘Labelling of people as deviants creates a self-fulfilling prophesy,’ this discussion will be accomplished through the application of the symbolic interactionist perspectives, in addition to at least one illustration of such labelling. A perfect example of labelling and its corresponding effects on behaviour is the research findings presented by William J. Chambliss through the article “The Saints and the Roughnecks” in which two categories of young people engage in similar activities but are labelled differently by society resulting into their behavioural change. Effects of Labelling William J. Chambliss in his publication “The Saints and the Roughnecks” recounts a study conducted on adolescents regarding their motivation to indulge in delinquency (Chambliss, 1978, 43). Throughout the article, the author discusses the direct relationship between self-image and delinquency. In essence, the author opines that young people participate in crime as a result of poor self-perception. Yet poor perception is a function of several dynamics, which include upbringing and nurturing, social environment along with circumstances. However, Chambliss discovered something quite different from which he categorically stated that is behind the increasing chances of crime and delinquency not only among young people but also in general society. Therefore, he developed two phrases that describe the underlying concept of labelling and how it influences behaviour in society. These expressions are the Saints, in addition to the Roughnecks; the saints are described as those individuals who received better treatment by family and society when growing up. Therefore, they grew up with positive influence went to school and succeeded in careers making them lead better lives and society celebrates them as good people who are well-mannered. On the contrary, the roughnecks represent a lot that was never treated well during the upbringing making them drop out of school engage in drugs and crime. Hence, society scorns them, and they form a majority of those in prison. According to Chambliss, both saints and roughnecks indulge in the sane degree of crime, but the saints are not considered as criminals and are, in fact, protected by the community and law enforcement whereas the roughnecks are bedevilled, incarcerated and subjected to all manner of punishment (Chambliss, 1978, p 45). It becomes evident that the actions, social class, in addition to community perceptions of both saints and roughnecks are different in the sense that the activities of the saints are not considered devious because society perceives them as excellent citizens and the community considers them along their social class and not misdeeds. The roughnecks, on the other hand, are negatively perceived by law enforcement, society and community primarily because of their social standing. As a result, irrespective of the crime levels, saints are often treated well in society, they are labelled good names that eventually turn them into responsible citizens in the long run. The roughnecks, on the contrary, are labelled as devious and eventually embrace devious tendencies in the future. The way in which society treats people especially young people determines what kind of character and behaviour they develop in the long run (Warren & Brewis, 2004, 219-236). Labelling is a huge factor in the development of constructive behaviour in the society and that the adult behaviour manifested by individuals is a direct representation of how they were treated or labelled when young. Labelling becomes a self fulfilling prophecy through the influence it has on a person’s self-image; once people are labelled as devious they eventually internalize such sentiments and eventually embrace devious behaviour in the future. Similarly, when young people are labelled as being good or well-behaved they eventually translate such sentiments into reality by becoming well behaved people in society. Using William J. Chambliss’ example, the saints and the roughnecks are involved in the same kind of criminal activities yet society perceives the saints more positively and demonizes the roughnecks. In the long run, the saints will become well-behaved, and the bottlenecks will turn into law breakers and indulge in more deviant activities to correspond with the labelling. Labelling denotes the very innocent way of perceiving and describing people in society in accordance to their social status, race along with other biases (Branaman, 2001, 32). Most often, the society is usually oblivious of the effects of such labelling and always persists without recognizing that a good society is directly related to the efforts put in place to develop people’s minds and attitudes. Therefore, in as much as labelling is a crucial factor in deteriorating behaviours of society, few attempts have been put in place to ensure that labelling is used constructively in society to nurture responsible behaviour and build self-esteem. There are several reasons why such methods have failed; key among them being biased social notions, cultural perceptions, and religious connotations along with general ignorance of sociology concepts. In essence, the chief contributor of the prevailing trend of negative labelling is communal perceptions whereby each community has biased methods of perceiving certain parameters, issues and people. For instance, people from high social classes are often perceived as fine, and society regards them highly while people from low or poor social classes are often perceived with suspicion. Such notions strengthen the aspects of labelling where by people in high social classes are labelled as acceptable and noble while the poor are labelled a social misfits and un-welcomed (Tulle, 2007, 329-346). Similarly, racial and ethnic perceptions contribute to the aspect of labelling. Several communities look down upon certain races or ethnicities; therefore, people from such ethnicities and races are considered as less-human and labelled all kinds of names that eventually affect their self-image making them become what they were accused of being. Labelling has a negative effect of human behaviour and is destructive to a great extent. As a result, measures need to be established through which the negative aspects of labelling are dealt with conclusively (Roberts, 2006, 76). Among these many strategies in addressing the consequences of negative labelling is the use of labelling in a constructive way whereby the society inspires wrongdoers through inculcating good sense of self-image in them. Society should consider using labelling to strengthen the self-perception of young people so as to assist them in becoming better people in society. Similarly, cultural and communal perceptions that hinder harmony should be eradicated because they provide room for devious labelling that eventually affects society at large. In conclusion, labelling of people as deviants creates a self-fulfilling prophesy in the sense that people eventually become what society think they are. People internalize what is said about them, and they eventually embrace those behaviours in their adult life. Therefore, there is no doubt that through enabling the society produces criminals who become a source of trouble. This paper has discussed the manner in which labelling people as devious affects the future behaviour. One component that repeatedly emerged from the discussed and which is directly related to labelling was self-image. It emerged that labelling people as devious affects their self image, poor self image on the other had has been proven to be a great source of delinquency among young people. Through the negative influence of labelling on their self-esteem, young people resort to crime. This argument was strengthened by a research finding by William J. Chambliss that labelling becomes a reality and that people eventually embrace what they are accused of being. This was a typical example of labelling and its negative effect on society. It is necessary to develop methods that will ensure that labelling is used constructively to develop people’s self esteem and, therefore, effect a positive behavioural change. Bibliography Branaman, A., 2001. ‘Erving Goffman’ in ‘Eliot, A. & Turner, B. (eds.) Profiles in Contemporary Social Theory. London: Sage. Chambliss., W., 1978. Foreword to The Saints and the Roughnecks. [Online] Available at: http://alpha.fdu.edu/~peabody/Lexicon/Chambliss,_The_Saints_and_the_Roughnecks.html [Accessed 25 July 2012] Ritzer, G., 2008. Sociological Theory, 7th Edn. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill, pp369-380. Roberts, B., 2006. Micro Social Theory, Basingstoke: Palgrave, Ch. 5. Tulle, E., 2007. Running to Run: Embodiment, Structure and Agency amongst Veteran Elite Runners, Sociology, Volume 41(2): 329–346. Warren, S., & Brewis, J., 2004. Matter over Mind? Examining the Experience of Pregnancy, Sociology, Volume 38(2): 219–236. Read More