Howard Becker
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Labelling Theory
Labeling theory was developed in the 1960’s the most famous writers that are often connected to labeling theory are Howard Becker and Edwin Lemert. Labeling theory is often also referred to as social reaction theory because the results are often determined by the way society reacts to certain subjects. Also, it is referred to as social reaction theory because of how society plays a pivotal role in defining what is considered the social norms and what is considered a social taboo. Furthermore, society has a crucial influence on children’s education and the way they are taught. One example of how society has a massive influence on education is if a school teaches children a specific subject that is not seen as inappropriate by society then the parents could transfer their children to a different school which would eventually give the school a bad reputation if enough parents transferred their children to different schools. Therefore, most schools will try to cater their curriculum to what society deems to be an appropriate subject for their children to learn and if they can’t alter the curriculum to suit society’s demands then they will alter the way that their staff teach specific subjects. Furthermore, ‘a major emphasis has been placed upon the role of [academic] institutions in sorting, labeling, tracking, and channeling persons along various routes depending upon the assessment the institution has made of the individual’ (Rist, 2001) for example, if teachers label girls as being inadequate when it comes to taking part in physics lessons then girls will go their whole academic lives believing that they are not smart enough when it comes to understanding physics therefore, they are less likely to pursue it as an A-level subject.
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