Editing Labeling theory (section)

===Howard Becker===
While it was Lemert who introduced the key concepts of labeling theory, it was [[Howard S. Becker|Howard Becker]] who became their successor. He first began describing the process of how a person adopts a deviant role in a study of dance musicians, with whom he once worked. He later studied the identity formation of marijuana smokers. This study was the basis of his ''Outsiders'' published in 1963. This work became the manifesto of the labeling theory movement among sociologists. In his opening, Becker writes:<blockquote>"…social groups create deviance by making rules whose infraction creates deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by other of rules and sanctions to an 'offender.' The deviant is one to whom that label has been successfully applied; deviant behavior is behavior that people so label."<ref name="Becker_26" />{{Rp|9}}</blockquote>While society uses the stigmatic label to justify its condemnation, the deviant actor uses it to justify his actions. He wrote: "To put a complex argument in a few words: instead of the deviant motives leading to the deviant behavior, it is the other way around, the deviant behavior in time produces the deviant motivation."<ref name="Becker_26">[[Howard S. Becker|Becker, Howard]]. 1973 [1963]. ''Outsiders''. New York: [[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]].</ref>{{Rp|26}}

Becker's immensely popular views were also subjected to a barrage of criticism, most of it blaming him for neglecting the influence of other biological, genetic effects and personal responsibility. In a later 1973 edition of his work, he answered his critics. He wrote that sociologists, while dedicated to studying society, are often careful not to look too closely. Instead, he wrote: "I prefer to think of what we study as ''collective action.'' People act, as Mead and Blumer have made clearest, ''together''. They do what they do with an eye on what others have done, are doing now, and may do in the future. One tries to fit his own line of action into the actions of others, just as each of them likewise adjusts his own developing actions to what he sees and expects others to do."<ref name="Becker_26"/>{{Rp|26}}

Francis Cullen reported in 1984 that Becker was probably too generous with his critics. After 20 years, Becker's views, far from being supplanted, have been corrected and absorbed into an expanded "structuring perspective."<ref>Cullen, Francis. 1984. ''Rethinking Crime and Deviance Theory''. Totowa, NJ: Bowman and Allanheld.</ref>{{Rp|130}}