In the past weeks I have been reading Outsiders by sociologist Howard Becker. In this blog I will describe the way in which his theory of deviance can be viewed in modern society and share my thoughts on his work.

In his book, Becker describes his theory of deviance and how that relates to subcultures. All social groups have rules and norms that differ between subcultures. These social rules define situations and what kind of behavior is appropriate to them. A person who breaks the rules is considered special, which can be seen as positive or negative. In many cases this is seen as undesirable, and so the person with the deviant behavior is labeled as an outsider. However, it is possible that the outsider views his judges as outsiders. As a result, the people with the deviant behavior form a subculture that differs from the dominant one.

Part of Becker’s theory of deviance, is the concept of a deviant career. The deviance lies between those who have a ‘successful’ career and those who do not. A deviant career can start when a person does something unconventional. After that first act, he can either pursue this path of deviance, or not. However, when the person is caught in the act, this deviant behavior has a higher chance of becoming a pattern. Society labels the person as deviant and treats the person like that. This judgment can then cause more deviant behavior because it isolates the outsider from big social groups. Therefore the outsider can join smaller subcultures that share the same deviant norms.

I myself have never been part of youth cultures such as punk culture. I can say that I am part of the subculture of students at Tilburg University, more specifically Online Culture students. Although this can be viewed as a subculture, it is not a very deviant one.

Outsiders was published in 1963 and is, although Becker gives a very good theory on how labeling in a society works, in some ways quite outdated. Becker talks about how marihuana smokers, dance musicians and homosexuals are outsiders. In my opinion, Becker sees these outsiders as a negative part of society. They don’t fit the norm and so they don’t belong. Yet, in our current society of super diversity, this is not the case anymore. I think that there are a lot more subcultures in this age and that is viewed as normal and good. Because of globalization, we can come in contact with different subcultures and thus we are able to understand each other better.