Summary: Comparing Theories Of Addiction

Society gives people a number of labels of deviant The labeling theory focuses on the reaction society gives off not the behavior itself. An unclear example of deviant is medical marijuana. Marijuana has been classified as a schedule one drug meaning it is just as bad as heroine and wouldn’t be considered in medical usage. Over time things have changed and medical marijuana has become legal in some states in the United States. So how does this relate to deviants? For example, say there is a man name Joe who just found out he has cancer. He knows that medical marijuana may ease his pain. Based off what state he lives in will determine if he is labeled with a deviant label or not. Say he lives in California where medical marijuana is legal.

The third model of substance use disorders presented is the disease of the human spirit. This model suggests that as we enter the burdens and trials of life and become ungrounded with pain or voids in our lives we allow ourselves to feel pity and open ourselves up to our inwardly sinful nature. “It is at this point that some recoil in horror and become spiritual narcissists: self-centered, unwilling to see any reason to deny the “self” any desire or pleasure” (Doweiko, 2012, p. 357). This model believes that all individuals “all start out with hope, faith and fortitude” but when exposed to the ills of the world some “turn to chemicals to fill the perceived void within or to ease their pain” (Doweiko, 2012, p. 361).

The labeling theory, an example of constructivist perspective is the theory put forth to define how deviance is experienced and why people continue to be deviant. The labeling theory was developed by a group of sociologists in the 1960’s. It is a version of symbolic interactionism defining deviance as a collective action involving the acts of more than one person, and the

Under Edwin Lemert’s labeling theory the individual facilitates and impact’s their label. The process starts with deviation, sanctions for those behaviors by others, decision from the individual to imbed the label or challenge it, the individual then gets more reaction for their action from other and finally the individual chooses to accept the label and consistently acts within it. Primary deviance takes place when the individual engages in the initial act of defiance. In Lemert’s term, such acts under traditional labeling theory are examples of primary deviance and they occur in wide segments of the population. We all transgress now and then: some youth shoplift, others commit vandalism, and still others use illegal drugs. But suppose a youth, say a 15 year-old male, is caught vandalizing or using an illegal drug, His arrest, fingerprinting, and other legal measures make him think of himself as a young criminal. Parents, friends,

Labeling theory is the view that society creates deviance through a system of social control organizations that label certain people as a delinquent or even juvenile delinquent. An example of someone being highly labeled would be John Bender. John was the criminal student who smoked, skipped school, and broke all the rules. John experienced labeling theory, ultimately by his dad as being a lazy free loader and by the principal as being the worst kid at the school. To compare, he also went through the strain theory stage, the stage when society puts peer pressure on an individual caused by the failure to achieves one’s social goals. John was labeled by his peers, father, and even principle as someone who did not care about the rules in school or succeeding in life. However, he had his own self-label where he accepted the fact that he was a trouble maker. Furthermore, an example in the movie is when he felt he was treated unfairly by the principle so, to get revenge he would leave the classroom and wandering the halls to make the teacher come find him and the students. With John demonstrating being the bad influence on his classmates, he puts peer pressure on all the rest of the students to display deviant behavior.

Under labeling theory, criminal behavior is based on the state stamping the behavior as criminal, instead of criminal behavior being based on the harm that it causes. Thereafter, labels are influenced by society’s reactions. Lemert formulated this theory with emphasis on the importance of identity. He developed two types of deviance, primary and

Predominantly, the idea of addiction falls under the sociological concept of deviance. Research has identified drug use predominantly as a problem of young males, whereas prescription drug use is principally a problem of middle-aged and older women (Adrian, 2003). According to the sociological idea of conformity, individuals who are around others who misuse substances or use them illegally will eventually give in and follow the norm their social group has initiated and partake in addictive substance use. Hence, because of sociological research, it is evident that drug use and abuse and addictions are a deviant behavior that individuals have learned through the idea of conformity and following an idea popular in an individual’s culture or

Because of the stigma created from the label a modification of self image occurs in the individual. The individual essentially lives up to their deviant label, becoming the person described in the label. The process of deviancy amplification whereby any punishments or treatment therefore reinforce the individual perception of the criminal, thus more crimes fitting to the label are carried out. This theory can however by criticised because it is determinist, where individuals have n control over the process and once they have been labelled they will inevitably turn

Labeling Theory would argue that incarcerating individuals such as low level drug dealers leads to the label of a criminal record, which often increases the likelihood of reoffending due to one’s failure to find legitimate employment as an ex-convict. In class we watched a video that was title Dateline Intersection and that video showed good examples of the labeling theory and even showed recidivism. The program in the video Project S.T.A.N.D (Stop and Take a New

We often live our lives thinking we have it all figured out. We believe that we know what we know and that things are not different from it. For example, when we think of people having a mental disorder or having a mental illness, we think of the extremes. When we think of someone that suffers from schizophrenia, we often visualize someone being paranoid and feeling like they are always being either watched or stalked. We envision someone that cannot operate in everyday life and who is too mentally unstable to function as a regular civilian. We do the same with people who are prone to drug abuse. When someone mentions a “drug addict”, we think of someone who is probably homeless, sleeping on the ground, with a rubber band tied around their arm and a needle in the other. We always go to the extremes when it comes to these terms. The thing that we need to understand is that just because someone is labeled a specific name are not always necessarily the poster image that we think of. People who suffer from schizophrenia can become functional citizens. You cannot always spot a drug addict because they

Associating with the self-fulfilling prophecy, master status, and symbolic interactionism, Howard Becker’s labeling theory, views deviance as not an innate act, but rather, elects to target society impulse to engage in stigmatization (Cartwright, 2011). In this paper, I will discuss the implications of labeling specifically in the articles “The Saints and the Roughnecks” by William Chambliss and “On Being Sane In Insane Places” by David Rosenhan. Additionally, I will be discussing the far-reaching effects of negative labeling an individual, with respect to concepts such as labeling theory, the self-fulfilling prophecy, and master status.

‘Labelling theory is the view of deviance according to which being labelled as a “deviant” leads a person to engage in deviant behaviour.’ This states that if a person were to labelled as a thief, that person would be treated different (looked down upon). This could leave this person to do what they are labelled as and commit theft. This is backed up with study.com’s definition of labelling theory, which states ‘people become criminals when labelled as such and when they accept the label as personal identity’. This moves into strain theory as the strain theory cultural theory as in Merton’s strain theory argues that ‘the American cultural

Schmalleger describes the labeling theory or social reaction theory as one that sees persistent criminal behavior as a result of not, having the chances for normal conduct that follow the negative responses of society to those that have been labeled as criminals. There is an expectation of a continuous increase in crime that is a direct effect of the label that is attached. The result of negative labels creates limited chances that the behavior would change on behalf of the criminal, due in part to societies stigma placed upon them (Schmalleger, 2012, p. 186). Those theorists responsible for the labeling theory that are discussed in our readings during this weeks assignments are listed as Frank Tannenbaum, Edwin M. Lemert, Howard Becker, John Braithwaite and others. When discussion the concept labeling, one must understand some of the most early descriptions of societal reactions to deviance, this can be found in the 1938 works of Frank Tannenbaum who explained the term, tagging. Schmalleger defined tagging as the process whereby an individual is negatively defined by the agencies of justice. Within tagging Edwin M. Limert, used the terminology of primary and secondary deviance, primary being a deviant act that was undertaken to achieve some immediate issue and or problem that may have arisen in the person life and doesn’t intend for the criminal behavior to continue. Secondary deviance

Drug and Alcohol Treatment in America has been based on the Medical Model of Treatment. According to Wikipedia, the medical model of addiction is rooted in the philosophy that addiction is a disease and has biological, neurological, genetic, and environmental sources of origin. Treatment includes potential detox with a 28 day or more stay at a residential treatment facility. The continuum of care can include an additional 28 days at the partial hospitalization level, followed by another 6 weeks of Intensive Outpatient.

According to Howard Becker’s labeling theory, ‘deviance is not a quality of the act person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an “offender”.’ (Becker