Shelly shoplifted once. Her peers on social media have labeled her "shoplifting Shelly," and this label follows her everywhere o
nline and at school. She feels hopeless and shoplifts regularly now to alleviate her anxiety and because it is what everyone expects her to do anyway. Labeling theory would interpret her ongoing shoplifting as: Group of answer choices
According to the theory of labeling, no behavior is deviant, but becomes deviant from the moment it is so defined. That is, a bad behavior is stimulated and fixed in someone when it is defined and labeled to that person who performed the bad behavior. Following this reasoning, when Shelly's colleagues labeled her "shoplifting Shelly," they fixed Shelly's misbehavior on her. Moreover, Shelly demonstrates to be in the phase, which this theory calls secondary deviation, which is the deviation that occurs in response to the reaction of society and the labeling of the individual who engages in behavior as deviant.
The secondary deviance in Shelly is characterized by her shopping compulsion because she believes this is what people expect from her.
