Labelling theory and Self Fullfilling prophecy

Labelling theory works on the basis of self-fulfilling prophecy.
E.g: If enough people put a label on an individual, eventually they begin to recognise themselves in terms of the label.
In order to rid themselves of that label they must act like saints.
The media are very powerful label marker, for example, they labelled the activities of football hooligans as animal behaviour.
Those who represent the forces of law and order, or are able to impose definitions of conventional morality on others, do most of the labelling.
Labelling processes:
Wealthy to poor/ Men to Women/ Elders to Young and Ethnic Majority to Ethnic Minority
Howard Becker:
Identities are produced through labelling processes rather than through deviant behaviour / motivations.
Argued that deviant behaviour is behaviour that people label so.
Deviant…

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