Labelling Theory
Definition
The perspective, associated with Becker and Lemert, that deviance is not a property of the act but a consequence of the social reaction to it. Being labelled a criminal by official agencies can produce a deviant identity and further offending.
- Associated with
- Howard Becker, Edwin Lemert
- Core claim
- Deviance is a social reaction, not a property of the act
- Key distinction
- Primary versus secondary deviance
- Field
- Criminology and sociology of deviance
Common questions
How does labelling theory explain reoffending after a first conviction?+
It argues that being formally labelled a criminal restricts legitimate opportunities and reshapes self-identity around the label, which can push someone toward secondary deviance, that is, further offending organized around the deviant identity.
What is a common criticism of labelling theory?+
Critics argue it underplays why the original act occurred in the first place and struggles to explain offenders who desist despite being labelled, or who offend without ever being formally labelled.
Related terms
- Atavism
- Lombroso's concept that born criminals were evolutionary throwbacks to a more primitive human type, identifiable by physical stigmata. The concept is scientifically...
- Classical School
- The eighteenth-century intellectual tradition in criminology, associated with Beccaria and Bentham, that treats offenders as rational actors and argues for proportionate, certain,...
- Positivist School
- The nineteenth-century tradition, associated with Lombroso, Ferri, and Garofalo, that rejected free will and sought causes of crime in measurable biological, psychological,...
- Social Disorganisation
- The condition of a neighbourhood in which social institutions have weakened to the point where they can no longer effectively regulate behaviour...
- Strain Theory
- Merton's 1938 theory that crime results from a structural gap between culturally valued goals and the legitimate means available to achieve them....