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A story within the Labeling Theory
An African-American teenager named John does not have many friends. He is a successful student, an obedient son, and a caring brother but the lack of peer communication worries him. In an attempt to make friends with a group of classmates, John attends a party where he drinks too much alcohol and gets involved in a fight. As the outcome of the physical conflict, one of the boys at the party gets hurt. When John’s parents find out about the incident, they make him apologize, punish him, and resolve the conflict with the injured party. However, the peers in the class know about John’s temper when under the influence of alcohol and avoid communicating with them.
Also, teachers initiate socially educational work, publically discussing John’s behavior as an example of wrongdoing. Being labeled as a dangerous person, John always gets accused when someone is beaten, or a party with drinking becomes uncontrolled. As a result, he becomes an alcohol addict, joins a gang, and voluntarily engages in criminal activity after school, which involves him in continuous troubles with the police.
From the point of view of labeling theory, the initial drinking and the first fight at the party is John’s primary deviance. Since society labeled him a deviant after the first incident, the consecutive drinking problem and criminal behavior of the main character became secondary deviance (Keirns et al. 141). The impact of labeling in the teenage years was very strong because this is the time of individuals’ identity formation (Abrah 179). Under the influence of society’s opinion about him, John’s identity altered, and he began to perceive himself as a deviant, thus acting like one.
Application of Conflict Theory
John’s secondary deviance might be explained from the perspective of conflict theory. This approach justifies that criminal or deviant behavior depends on socio-economic factors, including race and income (Keirns et al. 140). These key propositions of the theory imply a high level of the main character’s probability to become a criminal. John’s race contributes to his likelihood to react to society’s labeling in a deviant manner since he represents the minority. John’s deviation demonstrates the imbalance between racial majorities and minorities. Consequently, due to the statistical prevalence of African Americans among the criminals, John’s chances of being convicted of a crime are very high.
Application of Merton Strain Theory
The actions and decision-making of the main character of the story might be theorized from another angle. Merton’s strain theory explains deviant behavior by the inability of an individual to achieve socially acceptable goals by socially acceptable means (Lester 13). John has a goal of becoming a socially active citizen, but he does not have lawful means of integrating into society. His way of adapting to the gap between the goal and the means to achieve it is ritualism, through which John lowers his goal to being a member of a criminal gang as a prototype of society (Keirns et al. 139). His adherence to the rules of criminal life is socially unacceptable.
However, by lowering his goal, the main character succeeded in achieving it by means of deviant behavior. One of the weaknesses of strain theory is its inability to provide an adequate explanation of goals achievement when the goals are not economical. In other words, the theory is best applied to the explanation of crimes and deviation related to the financial sphere and economic success.
Works Cited
Abrah, Prince Boamah. “Labeling Theory and Life Stories of Juvenile Delinquents Transitioning into Adulthood.” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, vol. 63, no. 2, 2019, pp. 179-197.
Keirns, Nathan J., et al. Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed., OpenStax, 2018.
Lester, Joshua L. Strain and Adaptation Among Probation Officers: An Application of Merton’s Classic Strain Theory. Dissertation, Middle Tennessee State University, 2016. Web.
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