Societal Reaction
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This paper will focus on the societal reaction perspective to crime and deviance as
developed in the works of Edwin Lemert, Howard S. Becker, and John Kitsuse. In
addition to highlighting their key arguments, their works will be compared and contrasted
for differences. Finally the societal reaction perspective, also known as the labeling
perspective, will be applied to a specific form of deviance, illicit drug use.
Edwin Lemert was one of the first theorists to begin working on the societal
reaction perspective, around the early 1950's. He started with an idea which looked at
how individuals made choices in terms of their cost and value. His view of choice making
was not completely rational however, as he acknowledged that individuals were
susceptible to pressures and constraints of objective reality.
Lemert not only placed emphasis on the deviant's action, but he also studied the
individuals who react to the deviance. The reactors tolerance quotient to deviance is
perhaps one of the most significant factors in determining what will be reacted to. In
some communities, many acts such as loitering and public begging may go unnoticed because of a higher tolerance quotient...