Howard P. Becker was brought up by his mother and stepfather in Reno and Winnemucca, Nevada, where he attended local schools.
[4] He is perhaps best remembered as the author of the book Man in Reciprocity: Introductory Lectures on Culture, Society and Personality (1956).
He was praised for a style described as "urbane, witty, and literate", and also for his interdisciplinary approach drawing from concepts in sociology, social psychology, and anthropology.
[4] Among graduate students whom Becker advised was C. Wright Mills, when he was completing his doctoral thesis at Wisconsin-Madison.
His presidential address, entitled "Normative Reactions to Normlessness", was delivered by his son, historian Christopher Bennett Becker.