Secondary Deviance
Definition
Deviant behaviour that arises as an adaptation to the social reaction to primary deviance. Once labelled, a person restructures their identity and social role around the deviant status, making further offending more likely.
- Origin
- Labelling theory (Edwin Lemert)
- Contrast
- Primary deviance, the initial unlabelled act
- Mechanism
- Identity reorganized around a deviant label
- Effect
- Raises likelihood of further offending
Common questions
How does secondary deviance differ from primary deviance?+
Primary deviance is an initial rule-breaking act the person does not build into their self-image, while secondary deviance follows social labelling, when the person starts organizing identity and behaviour around the deviant status itself.
Why does labelling increase further offending?+
A formally or informally labelled person may lose access to conventional opportunities, prompting association with similarly labelled others and reinforcing the identity, a cycle sometimes described as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What are the practical implications for justice policy?+
The theory underlies diversion and restorative approaches that avoid formal labelling for minor or first-time offences, on the reasoning that reducing stigma lowers the risk of entrenching a deviant identity.
Related terms
- Deviant Career
- Becker's concept describing how an individual moves sequentially through stages of deviance, from initial rule-breaking through labelling and eventually into immersion in...
- Moral Entrepreneur
- Becker's term for an individual or group that campaigns to create or enforce moral rules, defining what will count as deviant and...
- Primary Deviance
- Rule-breaking behaviour that precedes or occurs without official labelling. Lemert argued that primary deviance is common and does not in itself alter...
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- A situation in which a definition, though originally inaccurate or arbitrary, provokes behaviour that makes it accurate. In labelling theory, treating someone...
- Stigma
- Goffman's term for a deeply discrediting attribute that reduces the bearer to a spoiled identity in others' eyes. A criminal conviction functions...