According to Edwin Lemert, everyone engages in forms of secondary deviance, and alone it has little consequence for a person's social identity, provided that the person has a strong self-image.

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Edwin Lemert distinguished between primary and secondary deviance, suggesting that secondary deviance occurs when a person begins to engage in deviant behavior as a means of dealing with the societal reactions to their initial (primary) deviance. It can significantly impact a person's social identity, especially if society labels them based on this deviance. Lemert did not claim that everyone engages in secondary deviance, nor that it has little consequence for a person's social identity if they have a strong self-image.

According to Edwin Lemert, Everyone Engages in Forms of Secondary