Theories Of Secondary Deviance By Edwin Lemert And David Brown

Secondary deviance is a type of deviance associated with the Label theory, bolstered by Edwin Lemert and Howard Becker. Secondary deviance only makes up one section of the Label theory. The other part of the theory is primary deviance. The extent of primary deviance is individuals that commit an act of deviance once and learn from their “mistake.” However, when it comes to secondary deviance, it is not limited by one act. Secondary deviance is a label that sticks with an individual for either as long as the lifestyle is a part of the individual or for the rest of the individual’s life. An example of primary deviance would be getting into a fight, feeling guilty about it afterwards, and being determined to act better in the next situation. This is opposed to continuously engaging in violence throughout their lives, which would be considered as secondary deviance. There are two intriguing approaches that can used to try and transform secondary deviance. …show more content…
David Brown. While explaining the identities of the deviant and their transformation, Brown brings up to two notions that are central to his argument. The first is role exit. With this concept, role-exit refers to a process that an individual undertakes to remove themselves from a deviant role in their old identity and be place in a new identity that contains an acknowledgement of the role once previously held. The professional-ex, in his new identity, leans on the experiences that they had in their deviance and uses that experience as a means of helping their new identity, by contributing to the organization that they belong to. While the professional-ex is the end result of a process, role-exit is the process