Labeling Theory

Labeling theory was a buzz in Sociology back in the 60′s and thereafter became politically contentious. In my view, the problem was little more than the classification of Becker’s idea as “a theory”. It is better to think of labeling as a process that operates as part of a grander theory of how individual identify is created in social interaction.

“Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders. . . . Deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an “offender. ” The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied: deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label (Becker 1963:9).”

The point to be gleaned by understanding this process is not that we should not judge the behavior of others and provide feedback regarding their behavior, but that when we convert our judgements into institutional “facts” in the form of labels, we force others to become what we label them. This transforms the collaborative “we” into a conflictual “us” versus “them”.

If our intention is to enable collaborative enterprise, then our labeling habit does more harm than good. The boxes we put others in, and the boxes they put us in, are prisons as real and consequential as those made of brick, mortar, and iron. Putting other human beings in such prisons, should be a penultimate act, exceeded only by the death penalty itself.

Two examples of institutional labeling practices that imprison human beings are the “permanent record” of student grades and employee performance evaluations. There are many others. See my post, “Gardening Tips for a Better America” for a broader take of this topic.