Howard S. Becker

Howard Saul Becker (18 April 1928 – 16 August 2023) was an American sociologist who taught at Northwestern University. Becker made contributions to the sociology of deviance, sociology of art, and sociology of music. Becker also wrote extensively on sociological writing styles and methodologies. Becker's 1963 book Outsiders provided the foundations for labeling theory. Becker was often called a symbolic interactionist or social constructionist, although he did not align himself with either method. A graduate of the University of Chicago, Becker was considered part of the second Chicago School of Sociology, which also includes Erving Goffman and Anselm Strauss.

Works

Books (selection)

• with Blanche Geer, Everett C. Hughes and Anselm Strauss, Boys in White: Student Culture in Medical School, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961; 1977; 1992.

• Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, New York: The Free Press, 1963.
  • Los extraños : sociología de la desviación, Buenos Aires: Tiempo Contemporáneo, 1971. (Spanish)
  • Außenseiter: zur Soziologie abweichenden Verhaltens, Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer, 1973, xvi+213 pp; 2nd ed., trans. Cori A. Mackrodt and Stefanie Loyal, Wiesbaden: Springer, 2014, 203 pp; 3rd ed., 2019, xxix+218 pp. (German)
  • Outsiders: études de sociologie de la déviance, Paris: Métalié, 1985; repr., 2012. [1] (French)
  • Outsidere : studier i afvigelsens sociologi, Copenhagen: Hans Reitzel, 2005, 216 pp; 2nd ed., trans. Søren Søgaard and Morten Visby, intro. Margaretha Järvinen, Copenhagen: Hans Reitzel, 2023, 254 pp. (Danish)
  • Utanför: avvikandets sociologi, trans. Gunnar Sandin, Lund: Arkiv, 2006. (Swedish)
  • Outsiders: estudos de sociologia do desvio, trans. Maria Luiza X. de A. Borges, Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2009. (Brazilian Portuguese)
  • Outsiders: hacia una sociolog, Buenos Aires: Siglo Veintiuno, 2009, 241 pp. (Spanish)
  • Outsiders: saggi di sociologia della devianza, trans. Claire-Lise Vuadens, M. Croce, and Diego Brignoli, Torino: EGA, 2009, 224 pp. (Italian)
  • Hariciler - Outsiders: Bir Sapkınlık Sosyolojisi Çalışması, Heretik Yayınları, 2015, 249 pp. (Turkish)
  • Outsiders. Studi di sociologia della devianza, Meltemi, 2017, 240 pp. (Italian)

• Art Worlds, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982; 25th anniv. ed., upd. & exp., 2008.
  • Les mondes de l'art, Paris: Flammarion, 1988, 380 pp; repr., 2006, 381 pp. (French)
  • I mondi dell'arte, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2004, 418 pp; repr., 2021, 418 pp. (Italian)
  • Los mundos del arte: sociología del trabajo artístico, trans. Joaquín Ibarburu, Bernal (Buenos Aires): Universidad National de Quilmes, 2008, 437 pp. (Spanish)
  • Sanat Dünyaları, trans. Evren Yilmaz, Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları, 2013, 445 pp. (Turkish)

• Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986; 2nd ed., 2007.

• with Michal M. McCall (ed.), Symbolic Interaction and Cultural Studies, University of Chicago Press, 1990.

• with Robert R. Faulkner, Do You Know...? The Jazz Repertoire in Action, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Articles (selection)

• "Notes on the Concept of Commitment", The American Journal of Sociology 66:1 (1960), pp 32-40. (French)
• "Photography and Sociology", Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication 1 (1974), pp 3-26.
• "Art Photography in America", Journal of Communication 25 (Winter 1975), pp 74-84.
• "Photographic strategies", Society 14:2 (1977), pp 85-87.
• "Visual sociology, documentary photography, and photojournalism: It's (almost) all a matter of context", Visual Studies 10:1 (1995), pp 5-14.
• "Categories and Comparisons: How We Find Meaning in Photographs", Visual Anthropology 14:2 (1998), pp 3-10.

Literature

• Alain Pessin, The Sociology of Howard S. Becker: Theory with a Wide Horizon, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.

• Dagmar Danko, Zur Aktualität von Howard S. Becker: Einleitung in sein Werk, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2015, 191 pp. (German)

• Jean Peneff, Howard S. Becker: Sociology and Music in the Chicago School, Routledge, 2018.

Links

• Website
• Wikipedia