Howard Becker (1963): his key statement about labelling is: “Deviancy is not a quality of the act a person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an ‘offender’. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label.” Show What did Becker mean? What makes something deviant is not what is done, but how people react to what is done. The only thing that deviant acts have in common is that they are labelled "deviant" by others. Becker is not interested, then, in what causes people to behave in a deviant way. Instead he is interested in why people choose to label their behaviour as deviant and what effect the label has (on the individual and for society). Becker points out that people react differently to the same act depending on the social context and this influences the label that is placed on the act. Perhaps an extreme example would be the act of killing someone. In the vast majority of cases this would be labelled as murder: highly deviant. However, in a war killing is normalised and indeed may be labelled heroic. However, if the combatant doing the killing is not a member of a formal army, then they will likely be labelled a terrorist and, once again, be deviant. There may be no consensus over the application of the label because "one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter".  Our self concept is how we see ourselves; Becker argues that this is created by recognising how others see us (similar to Cooley's concept of the looking-glass self): being aware of how we are labelled. As such, being labelled as deviant can lead to deviance amplification because this label can become our master status: the main way in which we think of and identify ourselves. In this way, people can become career criminals. This relates to the ideas of Lemert (1951) about primary deviance and secondary deviance. Lemert postulated that after someone carries out a deviant act (primary deviance) the reaction of others can lead to further (secondary) deviance. This idea was developed further by Aaron Cicourel (1968) in his famous study Power and the Negotiation of Justice. Cicourel investigated delinquency in California. He tried to account for the apparent significant difference in delinquency rates between two similar cities and concluded that it was the societal reaction to "delinquency" (so-labelled) that differed rather than the acts themselves. He identified two "stages" in the "negotiation" of whether behaviour was deemed deviant or not. At the time of the London Riots in 2011, some commentators pointed out that then London mayor (Boris Johnson) and Prime Minister (David Cameron) had themselves been part of a "delinquent" "gang" at university, called the Bullingdon Club. Despite the notorious student group being associated with a wide range of illegal behaviour, this behaviour was not subject to the same social control and punishment that it would have attracted had they been poor people rioting, rather than rich people "letting off steam". Clearly then, for interactionists, any data that might appear to show different levels of offending among different social groups or in different localities is unlikely to be much use: the data itself is a social construct. It tells us about the extent to which the label "deviant" is applied rather than informing about different levels of offending. Labeling theory states that people come to identify and behave in ways that reflect how others label them. This theory is most commonly associated with the sociology of crime since labeling someone unlawfully deviant can lead to poor conduct. Describing someone as a criminal, for example, can cause others to treat the person more negatively, and, in turn, the individual acts out. The Origins of Labeling TheoryThe idea of labeling theory flourished in American sociology during the 1960s, thanks in large part to sociologist Howard Becker. However, its core ideas can be traced back to the work of founding French sociologist Emile Durkheim. American sociologist George Herbert Mead's theory framing social construction of the self as a process involving interactions with others also influenced its development. Scholars Frank Tannenbaum, Edwin Lemert, Albert Memmi, Erving Goffman, and David Matza played roles in the development and research of labeling theory as well. Labeling and DevianceLabeling theory is one of the most important approaches to understanding deviant and criminal behavior. It begins with the assumption that no act is intrinsically criminal. Definitions of criminality are established by those in power through the formulation of laws and the interpretation of those laws by police, courts, and correctional institutions. Deviance is therefore not a set of characteristics of individuals or groups but a process of interaction between deviants and non-deviants and the context in which criminality is interpreted. Police, judges, and educators are the individuals tasked with enforcing standards of normalcy and labeling certain behaviors as deviant in nature. By applying labels to people and creating categories of deviance, these officials reinforce society's power structure. Often, the wealthy define deviancy for the poor, men for women, older people for younger people, and racial or ethnic majority groups for minorities. In other words, society's dominant groups create and apply deviant labels to subordinate groups. Many children, for example, break windows, steal fruit from other people’s trees, climb into neighbors' yards, or skip school. In affluent neighborhoods, parents, teachers, and police regard these behaviors as typical juvenile behavior. But in poor areas, similar conduct might be viewed as signs of juvenile delinquency. This suggests that class plays an important role in labeling. Race is also a factor. Inequality and StigmaResearch shows that schools discipline Black children more frequently and harshly than white children despite a lack of evidence suggesting that the former misbehave more often than the latter. Similarly, police kill Black people at far higher rates than whites, even when African Americans are unarmed and haven't committed crimes. This disparity suggests that racial stereotypes result in the mislabeling of people of color as deviant. Once a person is identified as deviant, it is extremely difficult to remove that label. The individual becomes stigmatized as a criminal and is likely to be considered untrustworthy by others. For example, convicts may struggle to find employment after they're released from prison because of their criminal background. This makes them more likely to internalize the deviant label and, again, engage in misconduct. Even if labeled individuals do not commit any more crimes, they must forever live with the consequences of being formally deemed a wrongdoer. Critiques of Labeling TheoryCritics of labeling theory argue that it ignores factors—such as differences in socialization, attitudes, and opportunities—that lead to deviant acts. They also assert that it's not entirely certain whether labeling increases deviancy. Ex-cons might end up back in prison because they have formed connections to other offenders; these ties raise the odds that they will be exposed to additional opportunities to commit crimes. In all likelihood, both labeling and increased contact with the criminal population contribute to recidivism. Additional References
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Cite this Article Format mla apa chicagoYour Citation Crossman, Ashley. "An Overview of Labeling Theory." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/labeling-theory-3026627 (accessed December 30, 2022). What is Becker's Labelling theory?The premise of Labeling Theory is that, once individuals have been labeled as deviants, they face new problems stemming from their reactions to themselves and others to the stereotypes of someone with the deviant label (Becker, 1963; Bernburg, 2009).
What is the origin of the labeling theory?Labeling theory had its origins in Suicide, a book by French sociologist Émile Durkheim. He argued that crime is not so much a violation of a penal code as it is an act that outrages society. He was the first to suggest that deviant labeling satisfies that function and satisfies society's need to control the behavior.
What is Labelling theory in sociology?The labeling theory suggests that people obtain labels from how others view their tendencies or behaviors. Each individual is aware of how they are judged by others because he or she has attempted many different roles and functions in social interactions and has been able to gauge the reactions of those present.
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