Perception and Response to Status Among Female "EX-CONS"

Abstract

<p>The labeling perspective assumes that officially labeled people will perceive that they have been discredited. It also contends, as do certain hypotheses regarding the socialisation of women, that assessments made by others will affect the self-esteem of the person who is discredited. This study offers the critique that these assumptions and hyptheses assume an oversocialised individual. Data analysis confirm this critique. Five women did not perceive any damage to their respectability in any of the five roles--·family mernber, wife/girlfriend, mother, friend and employee--examined in the study. Some women were also observed to have perceived improvements in either specific roles or their self-conceptions. Other factors. such as psychiatric histories, physical handicaps and previous identities are perceived to be more influential in detemining status than legal histories.</p>