Deviancy is defined by social labeling response, not by the act itself

Evidence

The first half of the book drew on the Centre’s subcultural work and on deviancy and subcultural theory. Sources and influences here included the discussions of the recently formed National Deviancy Conference; the writings of American interactionist sociologists like Howard Becker (1963), who argued that deviancy was not a quality of the act but of the social response to it. 1 They made the labeling and defining of an action as deviant by the institutions of social control an essential part of deviancy as a social process. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1042

Categorization

• DEFINE: Howard Becker’s labeling theory of deviance — a foundational concept for understanding Hall’s analysis.
• XREF: Connects to the ‘definition of the situation’ concept in paragraph 1047 — labeling and state meaning-making are the same process at different levels.