Labelling theory

Labelling theory emerged in the post-World War II period and reached its height of popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. Labelling theory is rooted in symbolic interactionism and phenomenology, with George Herbert Mead and Alfred Schutz, respectively, serving as the primary intellectual progenitors. At an ontological level, early labelling theorists rejected the notion that there is an inner core of the self, or that deviance is a characteristic internal to some individuals and not others. The name most commonly associated with labelling is Howard Becker. In a book that took over a decade to complete, Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (1963), Becker outlines his position on labelling theory. Labelling theory also takes seriously the role of the mass media in contributing to definitions of deviance and drawing the attention of the public to crime. Analytically overlapping with deviancy amplification, labelling theorists utilize the concept of role engulfment.