Labelling Theory

The labelling theory is part of the Interactionist perspective. It focuses on the individual and it seeks to answer how did this person become processed/ labelled as deviant. A label defines an individual as a particular kind of person and it is a master status.

Becker (1963) suggests that in one sense there is no such thing as a deviant act. An act only becomes deviant when others perceive and define it as deviant. Whether or not the label is applied will depend on how the act is interpreted by the audience. This in turn will depend on who commits the act, when and where it is committed, who observes the act, and the negotiations between the various actors involved in the interaction situation.When there is a brawl among young people in two communities, a low- income community and a wealthy community, in the low income community, the police might view the brawl as evidence of delinquency and in the wealthy community it may be evidence of youthful high spirits.

The acts are the same but the meaning given to those by the audience differ. In the same way, those who commit the act may view it in one way and those who observe the act may perceive it in another way. The brawl in the low income community may involve a gang fighting to defend its territory and they may see this as necessary and right, however, the agents of social control may see it differently.

If the agents of social control, that is the police, social workers and teachers, define the youngsters as delinquents and they are convicted for breaking the law, they become deviants. They have been labelled as deviants by those who have the power to make the label stick. This is how they achieve their master status which over rides all other statuses. Becker (1963) then argues that deviance is not a quality that lies in behaviour itself, but in the interaction between the person who commits an act and those who respond to it.

Due to this master status given to the individual, such as a delinquent, leads...