Negative Social Sanctions, Self-Rejection, and Drug Use
Youth and Society, 1992, 23(3): 275-298
26 Pages Posted: 25 Mar 2015
Date Written: March 23, 1992
Abstract
Negative social sanctions are reactions by others to the real or imagined behavior of an actor that, either by the intentions of the others or the perceptions of the actor, serve as punishments for the behavior of the actor. One theoretical perspective, labeling theory, fosters "the ironic view that punishment often makes individuals more likely to commit crimes because of altered interactional structures, foreclosed legal opportunities and secondary deviance" (Sherman & Berk, 1984, p. 261). The continuity or amplification of deviant behavior, from this perspective, frequently is characterized as "secondary deviation, defined as deviant behavior or social roles based upon it, which becomes a means of defense, attack, or adaptation to the overt and covert problems created by the societal reaction to primary deviation" (Lemert, 1967, p. 17).
Keywords: Drug use, social sanction
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