ABSTRACT
In the first edition of Edwin Lemert’s book, Social Pathology, published in 1951, Lemert said that he defined social problems purely as situations 'about which a large number of people feel disturbed and unhappy—this and nothing more'. The more radical formulations of Lemert's theories have been developed by his followers, and two examples will be considered in some detail by way of illustration. One is delinquency, for which a medical model is not usually put forward; the other is 'mental disorder', which is disputed territory. The radical or labelling theory of mental disorder is stated most clearly by Thomas Scheff, who has provided the best empirical evidence in its favour. He argues following Lemert, that society has a set of stereotyped responses to violations of social norms, that is, to deviant behaviour. A model that does not use disease theories, although it is put forward by doctors and uses medical terminology, is psychoanalytical.
