Top Results for Labeling Theory
Howard S. Becker was an American sociologist whose work examined deviance, occupations, education, artistic production, and the methods used in social research. His 1963 book Outsiders became a central statement of labeling theory, arguing that deviance results partly from social groups creating and...
Why this score
Outsiders and labeling theory are canonical; also influential in art worlds and qualitative methods.
Scoring methodology
Edwin M. Lemert was an American sociologist whose work on deviance became central to the development of labeling theory. In Social Pathology (1951), he distinguished primary deviance, an initial rule-breaking act, from secondary deviance, which develops when social reactions and imposed labels becom...
Why this score
Primary and secondary deviance distinction remains important; influential in criminology but narrower than Becker or Sutherland.
Scoring methodology
