Howard S. Becker

The world is full of interesting things, if you just know where to look.

The sociologist's imagination is his most important tool.

We should always be skeptical of official accounts of reality.

The world is not a static place; it is constantly being made and remade by human action.

The most important thing about social research is that it should be useful.

The sociologist's job is to make visible what is often invisible.

The world is full of stories, and it's our job to tell them.

The best way to understand people is to try to see the world from their point of view.

The sociologist should be a craftsman, carefully constructing his understanding of the social world.

The world is a stage, and we are all actors.

All social groups make rules and attempt, at some times and under some circumstances, to enforce them.

Where the rules are violated, blame is assigned.

Deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to the offender.

The degree to which an act will be treated as deviant depends also on who commits the act and who feels victimized by it.

Rules are the property of groups.

The successful deviant must find ways to neutralize the guilt feelings that arise from his deviant acts.

Moral entrepreneurs are people who take up the cause of enforcing a rule.

The creation of deviance is primarily a social process.

Sociology is about understanding how people create and maintain social order.

Art worlds consist of all the people whose activities are necessary to the production of the characteristic works that that world produces.