Labeling theory posits that people come to identify and behave in ways that reflect how others label them. It is most commonly associated with the sociology of crime and deviance, where it is used to point out how social processes of labeling and treating someone as criminally deviant actually fosters deviant behavior ?and has negative repercussions for that person because others are likely to be biased against them because of the lab
Labeling theory is rooted in the idea of the social construction of reality, which is central to the field of sociology, and is linked to the symbolic interactionist perspective. As an area of focus, it flourished within American sociology during the 1960s, thanks in large part to sociologist Howard Becker. However, the ideas at the center of it can be traced back to the work of founding French sociologist Emile Durkheim. The theory of American sociologist George Herbert Mead, which focused on the social construction of the self as a process involving interactions with others, was also influential in its development. Others involved in the development of labeling theory and the conduct of research related to it include Frank Tannenbaum, Edwin Lemert, Albert Memmi, Erving Goffman, and David Matza.el
Crime and Community by Frank Tannenbaum (1938)
Outsiders by Howard Becker (1963)
Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity by Erving Goffman (1963)
The Colonizer and the Colonized by Albert Memmi (1965)
Human Deviance, Social Problems and Social Control by Edwin Lemert (1967)
Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs by Paul Willis (1977)
Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys by Victor Rios (2011)
Women Without Class: Girls, Race and Ident
