CRM 100 Lecture Notes - Youth Criminal Justice Act, Ethnomethodology, Erving Goffman
5 Jun 2018
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Labelling Perspectives
Intersectionality (Crenshaw):
● Developed in the U.S. by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the late 1980s
● Crenshaw sought to understand the invisibility of racialized women in the workplace, and
within feminism.
● Intersectionality has been an influential theoretical tool and a key commitment of feminist
theorizing.
● The best way to understand gender is to understand that social relations are organized
around multiple dimensions and forms of power.
● One cannot analyze the categories of “woman” or “man” without understanding its
underpinning complexities.
● Gender is complicated by issues of race, ethnicity, class, culture, sexual orientation,
ability, etc.
● “It is very difficult for me to separate what happens to me because of my gender and
what happens to me because of my race and culture. My world is not experienced in a
linear compartmentalized way. I experience the world simultaneously as Mohawk and as
woman … To artificially separate my gender from my race and culture forces me to deny
the way I experience the world”
○ (Patricia Monture-Angus 1995, 177-78, in Comack 2014, p. 27)
● Canadian sociologist Sedef Arat-Koc points out that race needs to be looked at as a
“technology of power that goes beyond skin colour to identify ways race involves
systems… that stigmatize one form of humanity for the purpose of another’s health,
profit, pleasure”
● Emerged from critical race theory and refers to the intersection of multiple forms of
socio-cultural oppression
● Criminologists have been slow to recognize and acknowledge how the social
construction of varying nodes of oppression can affect criminal activity
Introduction to Labelling Perspectives:
● Labelling perspectives were introduced in the 1950s and 1960s.
● Labelling theorists argue that to understand crime we have to explore both objective and
subjective dimensions of the criminal justice experience.
● Labelling perspectives challenge positivist criminology (biological, psychological, and
sociological) by arguing that crime is a social process.
● Crime is not an “objective” phenomenon, seen as an outcome of specific types of human
interaction.
● Their concern is with how human beings actively create their social world.
Social Context:
● The rise of labelling perspectives accompanied the social movements that challenged
the dominant images of thes 1950s. For example, they challenged notions of:
○ Collective interests
○ Consensus on core values
○ Economic prosperity for everyone
○ Standards of “deviance” and “conformity”
● The social world was viewed as monolithic--everyone was dedicated to common goals,
and everyone had a stake in the status quo
Challenged Dominant Social Relations:
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Labelling Perspectives
● By the 1960s, conventional values and basic assumptions of the “American way of life”
were challenged.
○ Youth culture: birth of rock-and-roll
■ One that generally represented a sharp break with the existing culture of
people’s parents
○ Gay and lesbian rights
○ Women’s liberation movement
■ Challenged traditional roles of women
○ Civil rights movement
○ Resistance to Vietnam War
● Conflict went to the heart of mainstream society.
● Sociologists started to view society as pluralistic.
● Society was made up of a number of diverse interest groups and classes.
● Social life was not immutable but subject to constant change associated with interactions
between groups.
● What was deviant one day might not be the next. Likewise, what one group thought of as
deviant might be acceptable to another.
● Meaning given to events depended on negotiated definitions.
Definition of Crime:
● Crime and criminal behaviour are a social process.
● The definition of behaviour or crime depends on who has the power to label.
● A deviant or criminal label is conferred by those who have the power to label (Example:
criminal justice system and its officials).
Focus of Analysis:
● Focus is on the nature of the interaction between “offenders,” “victims,” and criminal
justice system officials.
● Analysis of relationship between the offender and those with the power to label.
● Examination of stigmatization as a consequence of the labelling process.
Causes of Crime:
● Crime results from stigmatization and the negative effects of labelling.
● If a person is officially branded as criminal or deviant, this may result in the person acting
in a manner that fits the label.
● Negative labelling also results in individuals seeking out the comfort of others who have
likewise been cast as outsiders.
Nature of the Offender:
● Determined by the labelling process.
● Those who have been negatively labelled may not only engage in criminal behaviour but
may actively seek out others who have been given the same negative label.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Developed in the u. s. by kimberl crenshaw in the late 1980s. Crenshaw sought to understand the invisibility of racialized women in the workplace, and within feminism. Intersectionality has been an influential theoretical tool and a key commitment of feminist theorizing. underpinning complexities. around multiple dimensions and forms of power. The best way to understand gender is to understand that social relations are organized. One cannot analyze the categories of woman or man without understanding its. Gender is complicated by issues of race, ethnicity, class, culture, sexual orientation, ability, etc. It is very difficult for me to separate what happens to me because of my gender and what happens to me because of my race and culture. My world is not experienced in a linear compartmentalized way. Canadian sociologist sedef arat-koc points out that race needs to be looked at as a.
