Labelling Theory

Deviance & conformity result not from what people do but from how others respond to those actions.

Social Construction of Reality: highly variable process of detection, definition & response

• Primary Deviance: little effect on one’s self-concept
• Secondary Deviance: once defined by people as a deviant, a person may adopt the identity
• Stigma: powerfully negative label, greatly changes a person’s self-concept & social identity
  • Retrospective Labelling
  • Projective Labelling

I think this is where I learned it from, retrospective labelling is a form of Cognitive Bias.