labelling

To understand crime in Ireland, through sociological perspective one should ask what controls us and decides what is perceived as normal and abnormal in society. Those who represent the forces of law and order or are able to impose definitions of conventional morality upon others, provide the main source of labelling. The labels applied to create categories of deviance thus express the power structure of society. Is it true that, the rules in terms of which deviance is defined and the contexts in which they are applied are framed by the wealthy for the poor, by men for women by older people for younger and by ethnic majorities for minority groups. The answer may be yes as definitions of criminality are established by the powerful, through the formulation of laws and their interpretation by police, courts and correctional institutions.
Sociological theory of labelling is paramount and takes an alternate perspective to crime in society. It shows us that once a person is labelled as a de...