moral career

moral career

the identifiable sequences in a labelling process in which a person's identity (particularly deviant identity) and moral status is progressively changed. For example, the moral career of the mental patient (GOFFMAN, Stigma, 1963) in which the patient is first 'S ane’, then a patient, and finally an expatient. In this process the entire biography of a person may be reinterpreted in the light of the ‘moral’ evaluations progressively imposed. Compare DEGRADATION CEREMONY.