Labeling theory is a sociological approach to deviance that focuses on how social control agents attach stigmatizing stereotypes to certain groups and how the stigmatized adjust their conduct after being tagged.
Labeling theory is linked to Becker’s work and was developed in response to sociological theories that focused solely on the traits of deviants rather than the forces that governed them.
Deviance, according to Howard Becker (1963), is the result of external judgments, or labels, that alter an individual’s self-concept and alter how others respond to the branded person.
The self-fulfilling prophecy is a major component of labeling theory, in which the labeled match the label in terms of deviant conduct. It has been chastised for neglecting the individual’s ability to fight categorization and thinking that it is a one-way process.
Deviant labels, according to most sociologists, are also stigmatizing labels. Stigma, according to these sociologists, is defined as a set of unique, negative attitudes and stereotypes associated with a label, which may be seen and communicated through mass media or ordinary encounters between individuals.
Any misdeed can be described totally by how a person is classified as a criminal. Lower-class persons and members of minority groups are more likely to be involved in police interventions, and when they are, they are more likely to result in an arrest, regardless of the nature and degree of the infraction.
Labeling: Formal and Informal
When studying the consequences of labeling, labeling theorists distinguish between formal and informal labels.
Formal labels are labels given to people by those with formal positions and the ability to recognize aberrant behavior. Labels can also be attributed to someone by groups of individuals who do not have the formal power to do so.
