Problem:
Read this short reading, which explains the meaning of labeling theory. You may need to read it through a couple of times, and then answer the following questions:
1. How can labelling have an impact on self-perception and behaviour? Need Assignment Help?
2. The author suggests that labels could apply to people referred to as 'delinquent', 'stupid' and 'talented'. Can you think of any other examples of labels that might affect how someone behaves? What impact might this have on their lives?
Core definition
A social theory, originally applied to the study of deviance, that explores the influence labels have on the formation of identity.
Longer explanation
What impact would it have on your psyche if everyone around you - your family, community, school, and even the legal system - labelled you a delinquent? Or what if you knew someone who grew up constantly being called stupid? Any chance it would limit intellectual growth? Well labelling theory suggests that the labels attached to us can be instrumental in forming our self-perception. In fact, labels can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy. If people see you and talk about you in a certain way, you're likely to come to see yourself in that way, to think that way, and eventually act in ways that make the label true.
Debates and controversies
Traditional theories of deviance tend to emphasize an individual's inherent personality traits and their free will in breaking social norms. But labelling theory, which focuses on ways in which societal interactions affect the construction of self, offers an alternative. Many, however, feel that labelling theory provides an excuse for unacceptable behaviour and relieves 'deviants' of all responsibility. Others feel it doesn't get at primary psychological or structural causes of deviance. Labelling theory is also criticized for being too deterministic in that it does not recognize the ability of individuals to make conscious choices in controlling their own lives.
Practical application
Labelling theory is important in understanding deviant behaviour, but its social science application is actually much broader. For example, labels, particularly those applied early in life, can be a determining factor in how one sees opportunities. If parents see and label their child as talented, they're likely to foster those talents and the child is likely to internalize those beliefs and continue to develop those talents throughout their life course. Another example is school tracking where children are segregated according to perceived academic ability. Teacher, peer, and self-expectations vary dramatically between top and bottom tracks. And to either the advantage or disadvantage of these children, they get sent down particular paths.
Key figures
George Herbert Mead, a symbolic interactionist, recognized the importance of others in the formation of identity. For him, identity is continuously constructed and reconstructed though interpersonal relationships. Labelling theory derives from Mead's work and was first applied to the study of deviance by Edwin Lemert, who made a distinction between primary deviance and secondary deviance attributable to societal perceptions. The actual term 'labelling theory', however, was coined in the 1960s by Howard Becker, who argued that systems of social control cause criminalized identities to become part of self-identity.
What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are.
Siouxsie Sioux (1957-) Lead singer of Siouxsie & the Banshees, Uncut interview, 29 November 2004
Recommended readings
I'd start with Mead's seminal work, Mind, Self and Society (1934 1967), but if you're more comfortable with a contemporary reading, try The Ethics of Identity (Appiah 2004). For readings more specific to deviant behaviour, try Becker's seminal work, Outsiders (1963 1997), or Creating Deviance: An Interactionist Approach (Dotter 2004).
Producer
Sage UK
Author(s)
Zina O'Leary
This Resource
SOURCE
The Social Science Jargon-Buster
Tackles the most confusing concepts in the social sciences in an easy-to-understand, erudite, and witty way.
Authors: Zina O'Leary
Published: 2007 Sage UK
Copyright: © Zina O'Leary 2007