Howard S. Becker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Howard S. Becker
|
|
|---|---|
Becker in 2012
|
|
| Born |
Howard Saul Becker
April 18, 1928 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
|
| Died | August 16, 2023 (aged 95) |
| Other names | Howie Becker |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
|
Notable work
|
Outsiders (1963) |
| Spouse(s) | Dianne Hagaman |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Northwestern University |
| Thesis | Role and Career Problems of the Chicago Public School Teacher (1951) |
| Academic advisors | Everett Hughes |
| Doctoral students |
|
| Influences |
|
Howard Saul Becker (born April 18, 1928 – died August 16, 2023) was an American sociologist. He taught at Northwestern University. Becker studied how people behave in groups. He also looked at how art and music are created in society.
Becker wrote a very important book in 1963 called Outsiders. This book helped start something called labeling theory. This idea helps us understand how society decides what is "normal" and what is "deviant." Becker was part of the "second Chicago School of Sociology," which focused on studying people's everyday lives.
Contents
Biography
Early Life and Education
Howard Saul Becker was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 18, 1928. His parents were Allan and Donna Becker. His family came from Lithuania.
Becker started playing the piano when he was very young. By age 15, he was playing music in bars. Later, he played with a band at Northwestern University. He said he could work as a musician because of World War II. Many older musicians were away fighting in the war.
Becker went to the University of Chicago. He earned his first degree in sociology in 1946. He kept playing piano while he was in school. He thought music would be his main job and sociology was just a hobby.
But he went on to get his master's and PhD degrees in sociology. He wrote his PhD paper about teachers in Chicago schools. At the University of Chicago, he learned from the original "Chicago School of Sociology." This group studied people's lives in the city. Becker and his friends, like Erving Goffman, became known as the "second Chicago School."
The Chicago School liked to study real-life situations. They used the city of Chicago as their "laboratory." Becker's early work was guided by his mentor, Everett C. Hughes. Becker is often called a symbolic interactionist. This means he studied how people use symbols and interactions to create meaning.
After getting his PhD at age 23, Becker worked at the Institute for Juvenile Research. He also received a special research fellowship. He spent time at the University of Illinois and Stanford University. Then, he started his teaching career.
Teaching Career
After finishing his studies, Becker taught sociology at the University of Chicago for three years. In 1965, he became a professor at Northwestern University. He taught there until 1991.
During his time at Northwestern, Becker also taught in other countries. He was a visiting professor in England and Brazil. In 1991, he moved to the University of Washington. He taught sociology there and later music, retiring in 1999.
Becker received many awards for his work. These include the Guggenheim Fellowship and several awards from sociological associations. He also received honorary degrees from universities in France and the Netherlands.
Retirement
Howard Becker lived in San Francisco, California. He also spent several months each year in Europe, especially in Paris. Even after retiring from teaching, he continued to write and make music.
In 2004, a French sociologist named Alain Pessin wrote a book about Becker's work. The book was called Un sociologue en liberté: Lecture d’Howard S. Becker. It looked at Becker's ideas and how he helped the field of sociology.
Contributions to Sociology
Sociology of Deviance and Labeling Theory
Becker is famous for his work on "deviance." Deviance means behavior that goes against what society expects. His 1963 book Outsiders was one of the first books about labeling theory.
Labeling theory suggests that deviance is not something a person is born with. Instead, it's about how society labels certain actions or people as "bad." Becker explained that "deviance is not a quality of a bad person but the result of someone defining someone’s activity as bad."
Becker also studied "deviant cultures." In Outsiders, he looked at how musicians formed their own culture. They saw themselves as different from "squares" (non-musicians). This made their group stronger but also set them apart.
Another idea from Becker is "deviant careers." He studied what happens when someone chooses a job that society already sees as "deviant." For example, if musicians are seen as "outsiders," choosing music as a career might lead to that person being labeled as deviant too.
Becker's work helped establish labeling theory. This theory says that people become deviant because they are labeled that way. In Outsiders, Becker wrote:
... social groups create deviance by making rules whose infraction creates deviance, and by applying those roles to particular people and labeling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by other of rules and sanctions to an "offender." The deviant is one to whom that label has been successfully applied; deviant behavior is behavior that people so label.
Becker believed that once someone is labeled deviant, it can be harder for them to live a "normal" life. This might push them towards more "abnormal" actions. He later explained that labeling theory wasn't meant to explain why people first do deviant acts. Instead, it shows how being labeled changes a person's life and choices.
Sociology of Art
After his PhD, Becker became interested in how art is studied in sociology. He felt that earlier studies often just judged art. Becker saw art as a "collective action." He studied art as a type of job or work.
One of his main ideas was that art is made by many people working together. In his 1982 book Art Worlds, Becker showed how many individuals help create a piece of art. For example, artists need materials, tools, and even shared ideas about what art is. Without all these people and shared understandings, art would be very hard to create.
Becker also wrote many essays about the sociology of art. Some of these were translated into French. In 2006, he helped edit a book called Art from Start to Finish. This book looked at how artists decide when their work is complete.
Writing Style and Methodology
Becker also wrote a lot about how sociologists should write and do research. In Writing for Social Scientists (1986), he gave advice on how to write clearly. He believed that bad writing could hide important ideas. He told scholars to write simply and avoid complicated language.
In Tricks of the Trade, Becker shared his ideas on research methods. He thought that research methods should fit the situation being studied. He learned many of these ideas from his teachers at the University of Chicago. He encouraged careful data collection and strong analysis to understand the social world.
His book Telling About Society was the third in his writing series. In it, Becker argued that things made by society, like books or movies, can tell us a lot about that society. He stressed that it's important to study how these things were made, not just the things themselves.
See also
In Spanish: Howard Becker para niños
