Moral Career

Moral Career Definition

Moral career, as conceptualised by Erving Goffman in Stigma (1963b), refers to the identifiable sequences within a labelling process where an individual’s identity, particularly their deviant identity and moral status, undergoes progressive change. This concept describes how the act of labelling—whether performed by others or experienced by the labelled person—involves not merely diagnosing a current condition but also retrospectively reconstructing the entire biography of the individual to identify signs of incipient deviance.

Context and Process

The moral career highlights the dynamic nature of social classification. It illustrates that the imposition of ‘moral’ evaluations alters an individual’s perceived selfhood over time, meaning that the narrative of a person’s life is reinterpreted in light of these progressively imposed moral judgments.

Example

A classic illustration involves the moral career of a mental patient, as described by Goffman. This sequence demonstrates how an individual’s status shifts: they may first be labelled ‘sane’, subsequently become a ‘patient’, and finally transition to being an ‘expatient’. Each stage represents a shift in moral standing that reconfigures the person’s entire life narrative within the context of the labelling process.