Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

In the sociology of deviance the concept of labeling is used in two interrelated ways. One involves the labeling of people as deviants . When people are so labeled, they are judged to be deviant by some standard and the label has important sociological and psychological consequences. The other is the labeling of actions as deviance . When actions are labeled as such, there tends to be an actual or assumed non-normative behavior, and that reaction reflects the feeling and attitude of a person or group toward that behavior. Although functionalism and conflict theory contributed to the labeling concept, it is most firmly rooted in symbolic interactionism. As suggested by symbolic interactionism, people and their behavior are labeled deviant via social interaction with others, and the feedback we receive from those interactions structures our view of ourselves. In effect, labeling behavior as deviant constitutes and defines its deviant status, and, as a result, the person so labeled experiences the consequences of being labeled deviant. Deviant labels are negative . Frank Tannenbaum (1938) was the first sociologist to argue that society creates criminals by “dramatizing the evil” of the offender. The person is “defined,” “identified,” “segregated,” and made “conscious and self-conscious” of his or her failings. The label identifies the negative character of the offender. Deviant ... log in or subscribe to read full text