Social reaction theory proposes that deviant behavior is not inherent to an act itself, but rather it’s the social audience that labels certain behaviors or individuals as deviant.
What is considered deviant depends on sociocultural norms of the time and place as determined by those in power, and deviance causes negative social reactions.
Once labeled deviant, a person tends to take on the ascribed role and engage in secondary deviance.
Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, criminologists such as Howard Becker, Kai Erickson, John Kitsuse, and others began focusing on what they called social reaction theory, also called labeling theory, which stemmed directly from the works of Lemert (1951).
The study of societal reaction and other symbolic interactionism became a major driver of criminal behavior, which was a departure from traditional criminological theories, which presumed that criminal behavior drove societal reaction.
Labeling theory, for a short time, became a dominant idea in criminology, before a number of critiques targeted the empirical validity of many of the core assumptions of these theories.
For example, the effects of someone”s daily experiences, such as family structure, social networks of acquaintances, educational attainment, and so forth, were assumed to be less important in determining the future likelihood of deviant behavior than being arrested or incarcerated.
Much research suggests that there are a large array of factors that determine deviant behavior beyond being labeled deviant.
Developmental criminologists have revealed that many of these conditions occur well before official labels are applied, such as in early childhood, or even before birth.
Finally, developmental non-intervention, the policy that emerged from Lemert and the idea of primary deviance, increasingly became viewed as impractical and potentially dangerous (Rosenberg, 2010).
Despite all of these critiques and it”s falling out of favor, Lemert’s deviance concepts rejuvenated in the 1990s as more empirically sound theoretical frameworks based upon labeling theory emerged.
For example, John Braithwaite”s (1989) theory of reintegrative shaming and Lawrence Sherman”s defiance theory (1993).
While these theories still ignore the criminogenic factors that preceded labeling, they are valuable in that they refocus attention on the harmful effects of some reactions to crime.
References
Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders (Vol. 1973). New York: Free Press.
Bernburg, John Gunnar. 2009. Labeling theory. In Handbook of Crime and Deviance, eds. Marvin D. Krohn, Alan J. Lizotte, and Gina Penly Hall. New York: Springer.
Braithwaite, J. (1989). Crime, shame and reintegration. Cambridge University Press.
Drew, C. (2021). 9 Examples of Primary Deviance.
Lemert, E. (1951a). Primary and secondary deviation. Crime. Critical concepts in sociology, 3, 603-607.
Lemert, E. M. (1951b). Social pathology; A systematic approach to the theory of sociopathic behavior.
Lemert, E. M. (1967). Human deviance, social problems, and social control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall.
Martino, L. (2017). Concepts of primary and secondary deviance.
Paternoster, R., & Iovanni, L. (1989). The labeling perspective and delinquency: An elaboration of the theory and an assessment of the evidence. Justice Quarterly, 6 (3), 359-394.
Rosenberg, M. J. (2010). Lemert, Edwin M.: Primary and secondary deviance. Encyclopedia of criminological theory, 551-553.
Schur, E. M. (1971). Labeling deviant behavior: Its sociological implications (pp. 18-18). New York: Harper & Row.
Sherman, L. W. (1993). Defiance, deterrence, and irrelevance: A theory of the criminal sanction. Journal of research in Crime and Delinquency, 30 (4), 445-473.
Wiley, S. A., Slocum, L. A., & Esbensen, F. A. (2013). The unintended consequences of being stopped or arrested: An exploration of the labeling mechanisms through which police contact leads to subsequent delinquency. Criminology, 51 (4), 927-966.
Thorsell, B. A., & Klemke, L. W. (1972). The labeling process: reinforcement and deterrent?. Law & Society Review, 6 (3), 393-403.
Tannenbaum, F. (1938). Crime and the Community. In Crime and the Community. Columbia University Press.
