“Even though no one else discovers the nonconformity or enforces the rules against it, the individual who has committed the impropriety may himself act as the enforcer. He may brand himself as deviant because of what he has done and punish himself in one way or another for his behavior.”

Source: Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (1963), p. 31.

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Howard S. Becker35

American sociologist 1928

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“Even though no one else discovers the nonconformity or enforces the rules against it, the individual who has committed the impropriety may himself act as the enforcer. He may brand himself as deviant because of what he has done and punish himself in one way or another for his behavior.”

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Howard S. Becker35

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