Deviants as Active Participants in the Labeling Process: The Visibly Handicapped

Abstract

Studies of deviance from a labeling perspective have emphasized the reaction of those labelled deviant and tended to neglect their active participation in determining the imposition and the substance of a deviant label and role. Interviews with adults who had recently been physically handicapped by injury or illness illustrate how choice about the content of a deviant identity is systematically related to the duration of the deviance and the social context of the labeling process, in this instance sociable encounters and encounters with agents of social control (physical therapists). Although conclusions are based on information about the physically handicapped, the delineated processes are applicable to the study of other types of deviance and provide an important addition to the labeling perspective.