The Intellectual And Foundational Roots Of The Labeling Theory

The labeling theory is a theory that explains and examines deviance in terms of the process by which a person acquires a negative identity and is forced to suffer the consequences of an outcast status from the negative identity. The labeling theory is based upon the idea that one is not considered deviant through their actions, but instead deviance is placed upon the subject from people negatively judging the subject. The way people react, it subsequently creates a deviance that becomes a deviant act. The subject then feels segregated from conventional society and becomes an outcast who begins to associate with the negative label placed on them.
The idea that deviance is relative, as nobody is born deviant, but become deviant through social
The labeling theory focuses on how the subject’s behavior can be shaped and influenced by how other people classify and react to their actions.
The intellectual and foundational roots of the labeling theory is built around the theories created from George Mead, Charles Cooley, and William Thomas after World War I (Adler, 2013, p. 186). Mead created the idea of symbolic interactionism, that everyone creates their self-identity or human behavior through social interactions with their surrounding environment. A subject’s self-identity is molded together from their life experiences. There is a strong correlation to labeling theory as it is built upon the idea that the labels attached to individuals are built by others’ conception of the individual’s behavior. Frank Tannenbaum argued the idea of the “Dramatization of the Evil”, which has a central premise of how adolescents become delinquents. He described the creation of the criminal as a process where adolescents began with breaking windows or stealing gum from a store for the fun and adventure. This is the beginning process which the evil acts transform them into an evil individual. When informally punished by teachers or parents, if severe can
Through social processes, meanings and symbols become created through interaction. Whether positive or negative, these messages are interpreted to define a person’s identity and self-concept. George Mead created the concept that meanings are comprised the interpretations of one another given off in symbolic messages in the context of the interaction. This self-identity is created from how others interpret people’s reaction of them. As Mead identified this as “the self as a social construction”, Charles Cooley identified this as “the looking glass self” (Gomme, 2007, p. 87). Through this frame work of the symbolic interaction came the creation of the labeling theory in perspective of crime and deviance. In this case, usually people with higher social class or authority have the power to either informally, as a parent teacher, or formally, as an institution, to label someone. This is the basic framework of what constitutes as the labeling theory. Deviant labels are usually given from classes with higher authoritative power who have integrated their moral norms into statutes, therefore labeling those with less economic and social stability. This therefore falls under the conflict theory. Although the labeling theory is classified as a conflict theory, the labeling theory focuses on a micro level analysis of how people’s social interactions with their surrounding environment are interpreted