Labelling Theory In The Sociological Studies Of Howard Becker

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Labelling theory originated in the sociological studies of Howard Becker in the 1960s. Becker studied deviant behavior and concluded that people become criminals only after being labelled as a criminal or the act as deviant, the individual accepts this label as part of their identity and they are more likely to take deviant paths. (Moffitt, 2016) Becker’s theory of labelling has been applied to a wide range of fields, including criminology, psychology and education. W.I Thomas believed that if people define things are real, even if they are not, they become real in their consequences, this is known as ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’, a term coined by Robert Merton in 1948. (The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology,
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