![]() Primary deviance is seen to consist of deviant acts (with any amount of causes) before they are publicly labelled, and has 'only marginal implications for the status and psychic structure of the person concerned'. Lemert's (1967) work followed on from Becker's insights in recognising the importance of the reactions of others in the explanation of deviance, whilst drawing a distinction between 'primary' and 'secondary' deviance. Labelling theory focuses less on the 'deviant act' itself, and more upon the societal reaction to that particular behaviour. Behaviour that is labelled as deviating in some way from the 'norm' necessarily involves the value judgements of those powerful individuals who are in a position to impose such labels. The 'deviant' is therefore the one to whom the label has successfully been applied. He goes on to argue that, 'deviance is not a quality that lies in the behaviour itself, but in the interaction between the person who commits an act and those that respond to it'. Applying these 'rules of deviance' to individuals or groups means labelling them as 'outsiders'. Labelling as a sociological construct has been used to inform medical practice since the 1960s in order to draw attention to the view that the experience of 'being sick' has both social as well as physical consequences.īecker's (1963) original work on the social basis of deviance argues that, ' social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance'. That is the shared social connotations and imagery that are associated with particular events and objects and upon which our actions are largely based. The concepts of labelling and stigma derive from the interactionist sociological perspective described above, and focus on the importance of the symbolic meanings of health and illness. Concepts of primary and secondary deviance We are currently in the process of updating this chapter and we appreciate your patience whilst this is being completed.Ĭoncepts of health, wellbeing and illness, and the aetiology of illness: Section 4.
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