Labeling theory is developed among proponents of the sociology of deviance, where theorists became interested in understanding the ways in which agents of social control attach stigmatizing stereotypes to particular social groups. Additionally, they looked at the ways in which the stigmatized individuals/groups change their behavior once labeled.
Labeling theorists explored why some people are labeled as deviant/criminal, whereas others were not. They wanted to understand more about the process of how some people came to be defined this way. Labeling theorists are thus concerned about two things: 1) how an act becomes defined as deviant; 2) how society responds to the act.
The theorist most associated with labeling theory is Howard Becker. Becker’s (1963) idea is that deviance is a consequence of external judgments, or labels, that modify the individual’s self-concept and change the way others respond to the labeled person (refer to his groundbreaking work Outsiders, 1963).
Labeling theory recognizes that labels are context specific. That is, the label will vary depending on the culture, time period, and situation. David Rosenhan’s study “On Being Sane in Insane Places” (1973) provides a demonstration of the power of labeling and the importance of context.
Labeling theory is closely related to the school of symbolic interactionism, which is a sociological perspective that holds that an individual’s sense of self (self-concept) is formed by their significant interactions with others and the labels ascribed to them by those other people.
Deviance
During the 1960’s it was popular with criminologists to study what makes some acts and some people deviant or criminal. During this time, scholars tried to shift the focus of criminology towards examining the effects of individuals in power responding to behavior in society; they became known as “labeling theorists” or “social reaction theorists.” They theorized that deviance is not so much the result of what people do, but rather is more about how society reacts to the things people do. In other words, it is not the nature of the act that makes an act inherently deviant, rather, it’s society’s reaction to the act that must be critically examined.
Primary and Secondary Deviance
Primary deviance refers to initial acts of deviance by an individual that have only minor consequences for that individual’s status or relationships in society. The notion behind this concept is that the majority of people violate laws or commit deviant acts in their lifetime; however, these acts are not serious enough and do not result in the individual being classified as a criminal by society or by themselves, as it may even be viewed as “normal” to engage in these types of behaviors. Speeding would be a good example of an act that is technically criminal but does not result in labeling as such. Furthermore, many would view recreational marijuana use as another example.
Secondary deviance, however, is deviance that occurs as a response to society’s reaction and labeling of the individual engaging in the behavior as deviant. This type of deviance, unlike primary deviance, has major implications for a person’s status and relationships in society and is a direct result of the internalization of the deviant label. This pathway from primary deviance to secondary deviance is illustrated as follows:
primary deviance → others label act as deviant → actor internalizes deviant label → secondary deviance
Self-Fulfilling Prophesy
The central feature of labeling theory is the self-fulfilling prophesy. Being labeled a deviant can provoke a crisis for people. Once a person has effectively been labeled “deviant” (and don’t forget they may have further accepted/internalized the label themselves), it becomes difficult to escape the social consequences. They may even feel pressure to “live up to the label.” Additional societal reaction may cause them to seek out affiliation with deviant sub-groups and cultures – and why not? Everyone thinks they are a deviant, so they might as well be one and find some deviant friends who won’t reject them. At that point, it is safe to say they have may have embarked on what might ultimately become a deviant career.
Criticisms of Labeling Theory
It has been criticized for ignoring the capacity of the individual to resist the labeling and assuming that it is an automatic process. Sociologists sometimes refer to this as having “agential capacity.” If you assume that people lack agency, you are assuming that people are merely “dupes” of the system.
Again, labeling theory prospered throughout the 1960s, bringing about policy changes such as deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and juvenile diversion programs. However, it came under attack in the mid-1970s as a result of criticism by conflict theorists and positivists for ignoring the concept of deviance; these theorists believed that deviance does exist and that secondary deviance was a useless concept for sociologists. This criticism has survived and continues to haunt labeling theorists because of the recent empirical evidence on the theory.
Discussion
Can you think of a time when you were in school or perhaps among a group of friends, where someone did something that caused them to be labeled in such a way that they were socially outcast? What happened to that person? Do you think they deserved the label?
One of the most memorable times that I witnessed labeling happening was in middle school. Mind you, I went to private catholic schools my whole life and our classes were exceedingly small, so most of the time everyone was friendly towards one another. In fifth grade our school merged with another catholic grade school and our class size grew a bit. There was a girl who came in that transition time and was noticeably quiet and a little disheveled; my classmates were not keen on her. They would make rude remarks about her hair, body, hygiene issues etc. We were in FIFTH GRADE. Kids are ruthless. Me being myself, I obviously tried to spark a conversation with her, trying to get her out of her shell and to make her feel like she had at least one friend in the whole school. She let me know that her family was struggling unbelievably badly at home and her grandparents were the ones to send her to our school. I went home that day and cried to my parents that we needed to help her in some way. I brought her over to my house one weekend and we had a “girls’ day”, that boosted her confidence a ton. People treated her so differently when I would spend time with her and that made my heart feel awful. Fortunately, she is happy and healthy and living her best young woman life! I try and treat everyone with the same love and respect no matter what they have gone through or are going through. Everyone deserves a friend.
No doubt you made an incredible difference in her life!
In my high school, like most, we had students that attended the Career and Technical Center. When I was a freshman, I did not know a lot of them, plus, it was the covid year, so a lot of it was virtual or different days in the building. Sophomore through Senior year when we were back full time in the building, the students that went to tech and rode the tech bus typically had a label, and classmates thought these kids were the so called “bad kids” or “dumb kids” and so on. I had two close friends that became interested in Cosmetology school and attended tech as well. I learned more about some of the other students on the bus, and a lot of what I heard in previous years about the “Tech Kids” turned out not to be true. Many of these students were smart, motivated, funny, friendly and just like everyone else. Of course, there were some bad apples, but that also can be found in the regular school building. I think the stereotype of you are supposed to attend college after graduation or you are one of those kids, like people described the “tech kids.” But in reality, the trade industry is becoming more of a normal path to pursue after high school, and it is successful.
In my school there were not a lot of outcast but if you were an out cast it was pretty known such as if a person did not have a lot of money and they wore the same clothes over and over people would pick on them sadly even though it was wrong a lot of times I would stick up for people that were bullied or try to make them feel better because it was not right to make people feel bad about there self. It was rare of these problems rumors of people occasionally such as boy\girl drama leading into fights and everyone gathering around but that was more around my freshmen year and junior year when all new people were coming in. There were also labeled groups you know the popular, nerds, band geeks, athletes and etc. But over all People definitely do not deserve to be treated poorly it is more treat people how you want to be treated.
In my high school, there was a girl who had relationships with many guys, some of whom were from our school. People often labeled her, but none of these comments were directed at her face, as far as I know. Terms like “hoe” were among the labels used. She was aware of what people were saying, yet she never seemed bothered by her reputation. This led me to believe that she either embraced it or simply didn’t care.
She attended the same high school for all four years, continuing her behavior despite her reputation. I began to wonder why she acted this way and later learned that she had faced some personal challenges. While I don’t condone her actions, I can understand why she might seek validation from others, especially if she wasn’t receiving it at home.
I feel neutral about whether she deserved the labels or not. She was aware of her reputation and chose not to change it, but I believe we should maintain mutual respect for one another regardless.
I remember that there was a girl in high school that was very nice at first or at least I thought. She was always nice to my face, but as soon as I would stop talking to her, she would talk bad about me to people of how I am a terrorist (she would call me that because I am Muslim) and how “my people” should not be in this country (immigrants). Soon, everyone started to hate her because she was very racist and just in general had a very horrible personality, would deal with drugs, and was fake with a lot of people. Eventually, she became so lonely that from the end of sophomore year to senior year, she did her classes online.
I do not know what she is doing now but I do know in this year karma caught up to her by destroying her own car because she was not paying attention while driving.
I think she did, because she was just genuinely a bad person. I don’t mind if someone insults me for me, but if they insult me based on my religion or ethnicity, then that is just uncalled for.
I can think of a personal experience that fits this perfectly. In high school me and my boyfriend of almost 2 years were both on prom court. I happened to break up with the week before prom because it was not a healthy relationship. I broke up with him in the nicest kindest way possible and he agreed to it and things were fine. Right before prom he turned on me when I did nothing, I had to walk out on prom court with him and it was extremely uncomfortable. I ended up winning queen, and he didn’t win king. This was so exciting and fun for me but it was slowly ruined. When I won, his friends all booed for me, and after that I faced constant harassment from him and his friends talking about me, and he even was texting me and calling me extremely rude things nonstop, it got so bad I had to block him. He labeled me as a “whore” and a “cheater.” I in no way was either of those. It was embarrassing and because he was on the football team everyone knew my business and all of his friends thought of me this way, I lost friends because I broke up with him and they took his side. I got through it and found friends that weren’t judgemental but I couldn’t change the way those people or him, viewed me after that. I did not deserve that label, I understand he was hurting due to the breakup but I was too, I never cheated on him or did anything to hurt him but he just got upset and decided to destroy my reputation. I was probably the most hated prom queen in my school because of the things him and his football buddies said about me, so it was rough and I did not deserve that. He actually tried to apologize a year later but I learned that was just because he saw me with my new and current boyfriend and was saying stuff like “why’d you teal my girl.” I never responded to his apology as he was blocked and a mutual friend had texted it to me on his behalf. I appreciate the thought of him wanting to apologize for the rude things he said but the damage was done and it was a year later and I had moved on from everything, is said to my friend I would forgive him but never forget it, and I’ve had no contact with him since. Stuff like this happened all the time in my high school to other people I know, sometimes a person did something terrible and did deserve the backlash as consequences to their actions, but mainly it was people who had rumors made and were not deserving of such harsh treatment.
When I used to do taekwondo after school, there was this little boy that attended classes. He really loved bugs, it was his favourite subject and he liked talking about them. The other kids around his age labelled him as “The weird bug kid” and would not come near him because they thought he had bugs since he liked them. He was then socially outcasted and avoided by the other little kids when we waited for their parents to finish their adult classes. I do not know what happened to this kid as I only saw him when I was younger in taekwondo class and he did not attend the same school as me. I do not think he deserved that label for having a special interest that would be considered “unusual” by other kids his age. He was just being himself and trying to share his love of bugs with other kids his age.
When I was in school, many of the people in my grade formed cliques, making labeling a common occurrence. One scenario that I feel aligns perfectly with labeling theory occurred when I was in middle school. In this scenario, there was a girl who sat at lunch with me and my friends. She often listened to the band Gorillaz and made fanart of its members. She also had trouble with understanding social cues and would say abnormal things that often created tense energies within the group/group conversations. She was not only labeled as “weird” due to these uncomfortable moments she created, but she also labeled herself an outcast, due to the fact that people treated her differently over her hobbies/interests. I personally don’t think she deserved the labels, but after getting to know her better, I realized she could be very unpleasant, even to people she cared about. I wouldn’t say she deserved to be called “weird” solely due to her interests (which were honestly pretty common amongst our generation, just not this specific friend group). However, I would say her energy/treatment of people rightfully earns her outcasting. I find it unfair that the friend group we were in made her feel different and wish she’d found friends that shared her interests rather than stay in a place where she wasn’t fully accepted and internalize these negative beliefs about herself.
Back in middle school and even high school, There was a group of friends I knew who were always labeled as “outsiders” simply because of the way they dressed, acted, and what they were into, they were often stereotyped as weird or rebellious, which led to them being outcast by others in the school. The truth is, they didn’t deserve that label. They were just being themselves, expressing their individuality, and pursuing their own interests. No one should be judged or excluded for being different. People should have the freedom to dress, act, and enjoy whatever they want without fear of being treated differently. Labels based on appearances or interests are unfair and limiting. Honestly, I thought about them being an outcast back then, but now I understand that we were all just kids, and we were just being ourselves, but the world and society made us stereotype people that we don’t know
I remember in high school when a kid I knew was labeled as “lazy and dumb“ for not submitting several assignments. At first, it was just a few overlooked deadlines, but once discussions began, the name became stuck. He gained a reputation for being someone who “always submitted work late,” and following that, even his friends began to act differently towards him. It didn’t take long for him to start avoiding classes completely, internalizing the label and distancing himself from the others. He eventually ended up dropping out of school completely.
In my opinion, the label reflected others’ views rather than his true nature. It wasn’t that he was naturally lazy or dumb, he had a lot of stuff happening outside of school that others were unaware of. Labeling him without understanding the complete context made him feel alienated, likely influencing his actions. The label was more harmful than beneficial. It overlooked how complex his circumstances were and strengthened a pattern that distanced him more from the group. Overall, I don’t believe he deserved the label and people should stop judging others without knowing what is actually going on with them.
Often I feel, especially in regard to high school, it is typically girls that get stuck with certain labels. In my experience, the majority of the examples that come to mind are weird rumors about a girl getting with a guy or sending explicit pictures. Every time, it ended with the girl being called derogatory names while the guy was praised. Two of these girls chose to switch to online schooling and only one of them came back for graduation. That being said, I can recall one case in which a guy was labeled. He was never the best student, but it wasn’t until an incident in middle school where he was given the label of a “dropout” and other insults. After this, he had some people who thought what he did was cool and others who didn’t agree with it. He was encouraged to continue the behavior by his friends and he really began to conform to the identity placed upon him as he dropped out our sophomore year. He still does the same sort of thing with the same people and boasts about not needing a diploma.
In my junior year of high school, a girl from my neighborhood faced a distressing situation. She had sent inappropriate pictures to a guy she liked, trusting him. Unfortunately, he betrayed that trust by airdropping these images in class. This lead to the widespread distribution of her private photos throughout the highschool. This incident had a huge impact on her; she was subjected to cruel name-calling and intense ridicule. She eventually quit playing volleyball and was no longer apart of the newspaper club. The situation escalated to the point where she couldn’t bear attending school and opted to finish her education online.
This experience was a clear example of the negative effects of labeling. The labels and bullying she endured was entirely undeserved. She was a victim of a significant breach of trust and privacy, yet she was the one who suffered the social consequences. It’s a reminder of how quickly and unfairly a person can be judged and labeled, especially in a high school setting where such labels can have lasting effects on an individual’s self-esteem and social standing.
When I was in high school I saw a lot of labeling most often with girls. I remember it was my junior year I was in my study hall class with my friends and someone told us a rumor that was going on that this girl in our grade slept with this guy and that her nude photos got leaked. The very next hour everyone found out about this rumor and it was soon to be true, this affected her because she didn’t show up to school for almost two weeks because everyone called her a “hoe”. Her photos were leaked all over social media everyone in Central Jersey knew about this story. A lot of people disliked her because of this incident. We found out later that the guy was in his mid-30s and the next day the police got involved this incident kept getting bigger and bigger. She ended up moving to a different state and no one knows what happened to her since then. I think people have to be careful with labeling because it could end up being a good thing or a very bad thing.
When I was in high school I saw a lot of labeling most often with girls. I remember it was my junior year I was in my study hall class with my friends and someone told us a rumor that was going on that this girl in our grade slept with this guy and that her nude photos got leaked. The very next hour everyone found out about this rumor and it was soon to be true, this affected her because she did not show up to school for almost two weeks because everyone called her a “hoe”. Her photos were leaked all over social media everyone in Central Jersey knew about this story. A lot of people disliked her because of this incident. We found out later that the guy was in his mid-30s and the next day the police got involved this incident kept getting bigger and bigger. She ended up moving to a different state and no one knows what happened to her since then. I think people have to be careful with labeling because it could end up being a good thing or a very bad thing.
There was a time that I was with a group of friends and we went to go get food. My one friend accidentally mixed his order up with someone else’s. When he figured out that he grabbed the wrong order we went back to the store. He told the worker that he accidentally mixed up the orders. The worker tried to accuse my friend of stealing. They started to “label” him as a thief. The worker grabbed her manager to talk to my friend. Once the manager heard the story he understood that it was an honest mistake. My friend was able to get his food and the person who he mixed his order up with got theirs. Everything in the end ended up being ok. This could’ve been a bad case if the manager also thought that my friend was “stealing”. Labeling someone isn’t a good thing to do, sometimes labeling someone could potentially ruin that person’s life like it almost did to my friend. I don’t think that my friend deserved to be labeled. Incidents like this one are very common. I can understand why the worker may have got the assumption that my friend could’ve stolen. Unfortunately things like this happen in today’s world. I thing that labeling my friend as a theft was wrong though.
I feel like at school nobody was really labeled unless they did something that people thought was weird. One girl at my school was pretty aggressive and one day she started screaming at this girl and punched her in the face. It turned out that the girl she punched wasn’t even the right person and she just had the same first name as the girl. After that she got labeled as kind of strange and scary. She continued to be rude to people and fight people and that made a lot of people want to avoid her. I do think she deserved that label because of her actions. Another girl at my school got pregnant early into high school and a lot of people shamed her and called her rude things, I think it wasn’t really fair for her to get backlash because it was something going on in her personal life rather than involving the people in school. There was also a girl who was rumored to have gotten an STD and people were shaming her and calling her disgusting, when in reality it wasn’t even true. Overall it really depends on the context and how people react to say if labels are deserved or not.
The labeling theory examines how individuals internalize and take on identities based on the labels society ascribes them, whether grounded in truth or assumptions. Once a label is applied by enough people, it becomes self-reinforcing. I witnessed this firsthand growing up when a girl dresses less modestly and gets branded a derogatory term with no basis except appearance. When multiple people say it, false labels feel true. Similarly, a girl’s reputation gets tarnished as “easy” through rumors. These damaging labels emerge randomly yet become inescapable once disseminated widely. This whole labeling thing isn’t just about individuals, it’s like a power play in society. They end up building walls between different groups. Communities get divided over these made-up stories that somehow become the truth. I have also seen this in my culture where groups get divided based on their caste and there are false perceptions about them that come from a long history.
In my experience, I have seen this type of labelling most often with girls in high school. One of my friends told me the story of how her friend was cheated on by her boyfriend and while people were not disregarding that it was the boyfriend’s fault, they were also blaming the other girl, even though she was most likely unaware of the situation and being cheated on as well. Regardless, this caused crazy stories of her being too close to other guys to come out, making her look bad. People were blindly spreading those stories without even knowing if they were true. While I am unsure of whether or not she was aware of people talking about the situation and saying bad things about her, I know that she did know that people were talking about her relationship and actions around her guy friends in general. I found out later on from a mutual friend that it affected her next relationship because of the image that was created of her.
While I was in middle school and high school, I noticed that labeling could be either a good thing, or a completely bad thing. I remember my first year of high school where there was an incident where a girl in my grade, who happened to be the daughter of a teacher, had her nude photos sent around the school. Someone was airdropping them during lunch, and it very quickly became a huge thing. The police ended up getting involved and after about a week or two, nobody really mentioned it. However, ever since that incident, the girl was always labeled as a “hoe.” This one incident caused a large number of people to see her this way and dislike her for her actions. It had a very large effect on her to the point where she ended up transferring schools, and no one heard from her again. I still have her on social media, and it seems that she is living her best life. I do not think she deserved this label at such a young age because of one little mistake she made. I think that the labeling theory can be extremely dangerous because everyone can interpret things differently. She could have accepted and acted upon the way people saw her and went down a dangerous path in life. Instead, she left it in the past and started fresh. I am glad that she is happy now, and I cannot imagine how her life would be if she stayed at my school.
Kids like to label others, and this often happened in my high school where some kids would be labeled as weird or anti-social, which led to them being often alone and making that label become true as they lacked social interactions. I think a lot of these labels can be sorted into cliques too, as sometimes one group of people would feel a certain way about a person, when another group of kids would feel another way about that same person, sometimes in completely opposite ways. I often found kids talking about someone that I liked, and thought was a good person, and would other times hear other people praising them. Groups of people sometimes use these labels to make “others”, to make themselves feel better when they are insecure about their own achievements. For example, in one of my AP classes a lot of the “smart” kids who had the highest class ranks would talk about another student in a very negative manner, criticizing them for many different reasons, some of which were very superficial, and some about their accomplishments and attitudes. Knowing some of these people very well I think it comes down to their own insecurity and lack of comfort with their own abilities and accomplishments.
I have been to several different schools and the one kind of individual that was consistent was the school bully. More often than not, the usual backstory of the bully would be the kid that has problems at home. Although most of the time it was just an assumption, it was a concept that during my time in highschool was socially constructed and accepted.
I did indeed had a friend that was faced with hardships at home with his family. Due to this he would have episodes of anger outbursts that would be directed towards his fellow students. Once, when he was confronted about his behavior he responded “because that’s what I am, I have problems at home so I must act up”. What I didn’t realize back then is that I was witnessing the effects of labeling right in front of my eyes. I think it is unfair for an individual to be borderline forced to act a certain way just because of socially constructed concepts.
I have been to several different schools and the one kind of individual that was consistent was the school bully. More often than not, the usual backstory of the bully would be “the kid that has problems at home”. Although most of the time it was just an assumption, it was a concept that during my time in highschool was socially constructed and accepted.
I did indeed had a friend that was faced with hardships at home with his family. Due to this he would have episodes of anger outbursts that would be directed towards his fellow students. Once, when he was confronted about his behavior he responded “because that’s what I am, I have problems at home so I must act up”. What I didn’t realize back then is that I was witnessing the effects of labeling right in front of my eyes. I think it is unfair for an individual to be borderline forced to act a certain way just because of socially constructed concepts.
When I was in high school we had your general “cliques”. The weird kids, the popular kids, the jocks, etc. Thankfully it was not like the movies and the weird kids didn’t get bullied by the popular ones. But everyone still thought of them as “weird”. Some of my friends were in that group, but zi also had popular friends. It upset me that they were viewed like that. Because then I was viewed like that but then I also got called a popular kid, so it was confusing. I used other people’s perspective of me to view myself. The groups of people always had one thing in common I found. The amount of money their family had. The weird kids had less money than the popular kids. My middle school was similar, but it was more than just groups. The popular kids and weird kids would be friends, but just because they’re homophobic or racist. I grew up in a super racist and homophobic town. Even though I lived not even 2 hours away from Seattle, which is a very openly gay city.
Now the school I went to wasn’t too bad in terms of people being deviants, but there were some instances where people actually did something where he could be classified as a deviant. So during my time in this school I saw a lot of weird things but one thing that stands out to me was when I was there. So there was a kid in my class that was known for doing stupid things, and one day he decided that it would be funny to post something on the internet of him saying racist things in a group chat to some kids on the football team. This caused a big problem in the school and the kid almost got jumped on multiple occasions and eventually he was known as the racist scumbag of the school. He ended up getting shut out by everyone, he lost all of his friends, his girlfriend broke up with him, and I’m pretty sure he did end up getting jumped. But the kid also went to a program that was offered by our school in which you chose a trade that you wanted to do and you did that for a grade and a job opportunity. This affected his time at that program as well with people also shutting him out and his grade started slipping. Leading him to move to online school. I don’t believe that this kid is a deviant, just a scumbag who got what he deserved.
I remember being in middle school and I had a group of friends. It was four of us, two of them were the big time athletes of the school, one was the pretty girl and popular, and then there was me who was just quiet and kind of socially awkward. I was very just embarrassed by how my body looked because I was more developed than most in my grade and all my friends were very skinny. At one point I only wore sweatpants, sweatshirts, and lots of baggy clothing no matter the weather. Well one day we had this time during school called intersession where there were no classes just fun activities for a week. My friends went to a fashion class and I was in bookscraping and the teacher had talked about how I should’ve been in the class with them because I dressed like a boy and was probably gay and they should not be my friends anymore before everyone thinks they are gay too. My friends told me and I was super embarrassed and after that everyone went around the school saying I was gay for at least 2 to 3 years even as a joke. I was even more insecure and tried to dress in a different style so everyone would stop picking on me but then I got called out by a teacher in the middle of the hallway saying I was trying to show my body to everyone and was too provocative. After that incident it was no longer I was the gay friend but now I was the slut or the hoe and wanted all the boys to be on me. The boys tried multiple times to touch me inappropriately because they believed I “wanted” that. I don’t think I deserved any label of the sort and instead maybe a check in if they were really “concerned” on why I was dressing so “boyish”.
The labeling theory is interesting because almost everyone has experienced it or seen it happen to someone else. There were many rumors in highschool/middle school about everyone and everything. A time I’ve experienced the labeling theory first hand though was elementary school. I was maybe 10 years old and i had about 5 close friends. My mom was a drug addict and had recently left my dad and word travels fast in the area I’m from. All of my friends parents then saw me as a troubled kid/bad influence. I stopped getting invited to things like birthday or pool parties and I was well aware that everyone’s parents thought i was a bad kid because of my home life. It took a toll on my mental health in middle school but by high school i had more friends and it just went away with time. This theory is tricky because sometimes it’s just a definite answer like if someone had committed a terrible crime, they would be labeled as a bad person. But other times you don’t know the entire story or you just hear what other people think/say and go along with it.
Labeling occurs in society for many reasons and can result in different effects. The same action done in different circumstances can result in someone being labeled in one of the circumstances, but not the other. An example of the same action in different circumstances resulting in a label for one person but not the other is drug use. When a poor person uses drugs, they are labeled as a drug abuser or addict. But when a rich person uses drugs, it does not result in a label because of drug use by rich people not being seen as a problem in society. This difference in the way people label drug users results in huge issues in the way people are punished for crimes. Drug related offenses often carry unreasonably harsh sentences, and all they do is punish poor people. Instead of trying to rehabilitate and help people, laws just punish them. When rich people get sentenced for drug offenses, they often get lighter sentences than others do because the justice system favors the wealthy. A lot of the unfairness in the way poor people are treated comes from how society labels them so easily and how rich people won’t get labeled for doing the same things.
Back years ago, in middle school, I had a friend who used to be alone most of the time, hard for him to engage in social activities and groups. But he was a smart dude and had good grades in school, and he might have a problem with social engagement, but unfortunately, this guy was labelled in a bad way and with very offensive words. Just because he was living his own life hurting nobody, he felt depressed for sure I was not seeing him always around, but when I saw him I could feel how depressed he was and how hard his days were going. After all that by the end of the year, he changed the school and moved to another place, am sure for a better life he was looking. I feel so bad for him, for the people who labelled him and hurt him in the hard way. He doesn’t deserve this label for sure, because he never did something wrong for anybody but unfortunately, sometimes society treats innocent people in a bad way
Labeling theories are indeed a ubiquitous event, even if we don’t realize they exist. I think a very important point about labeling theories is the effect they have on the label. I once read a news story about a female doctoral student. The story was about a young woman PhD student who was visiting her grandfather, who was very happy to know that his granddaughter had become a PhD. It was a very heartwarming story, but the Internet audience didn’t seem to think so. Most of the netizens focused their attention and arguments on the girl’s sexy dress and brightly colored hair. Many people thought that she didn’t even look like a Ph.D. student with such a trendy outfit and thought that she was cheating or that she got her degree by fraud. The negative labeling of this girl has caused her to be banished from people. It doesn’t matter what the facts are, it’s what this has done. Many companies and schools were afraid to accept this female student because she was carrying too much public opinion. In the end, the girl committed suicide because of the weight of public opinion. It was not the girl’s experience that led to this tragedy, but the labeling she was carrying. This is kind of an example of how labeling leads to people being labeled even more. Only the ending maybe even more tragic than expected.
I remember a time in middle school where I had a group of friends, however, everyone was different. There were outgoing ones, quiet ones, and some that were in the middle. However, for the most part everyone got along. At least until we got to highschool. We all branched away from each other, but still stayed friends, just not as close as we were in middle school. Until one of the girls started acting really weird. We let it go for a little bit, but once she got together with her boyfriend, no one let her actions slide. No one liked the way her boyfriend spoke, and no one liked his actions. We all felt like she was changing because of this boy, and no one liked it. She ended up getting shut out by everyone, and it was what needed to happen. She was dragging everyone down with her drama, and no one could handle it anymore. We all said something to her, but she did not listen to any of us. So it got to a point where we just stopped talking to her, and that was that. We figured that maybe if we did that she would see the issue, and choose her friends over the boyfriend that was no good for her. It seems harsh now, and we thought that it would help, but it didn’t. She is still with him, and none of us talk to her anymore.
I remember a situation in high school where a classmate made a controversial comment during a discussion, which led to them being socially outcast by a significant portion of our peers. The comment was insensitive and offensive, but I think the reaction was quite harsh. Instead of providing an opportunity for education and dialogue, the person was quickly labeled and isolated.
Over time, this individual became more withdrawn and struggled with forming new connections. While the initial comment was inappropriate, I don’t believe they deserved to be permanently labeled. It highlighted the need for a more empathetic approach in addressing such situations, promoting understanding and allowing people to learn from their mistakes rather than being socially excluded.
In high school, I witnessed an incident where a fellow student, let’s call her Sarah, was socially outcast due to a rumor that circulated about her. The rumor involved an alleged romantic encounter, which had no concrete evidence to support it. Unfortunately, this unsubstantiated claim led to Sarah being labeled as promiscuous and untrustworthy by some of her peers. Everyone at my high school believed the rumors because most of them either wanted to fit in or were friends with the person who started the rumor. Many people at my high school matured fast and didn’t act the way society expected most 14-18 year olds to act.
The consequences for Sarah were severe. She experienced isolation, bullying, and stigmatization. Her friendships dissolved, and she struggled academically and emotionally. It was clear that the label unfairly impacted her life.
In retrospect, it’s evident that Sarah did not deserve this label. The incident was based on rumors and hearsay, highlighting the importance of critical thinking, empathy, and avoiding snap judgments. It serves as a stark reminder of the harm that can be inflicted when people rush to label and ostracize others without adequate evidence or understanding. This experience reinforced the importance of supporting individuals facing unjust social consequences and being cautious about perpetuating baseless stereotypes.
The concept of the labeling theory was very interesting to me because it is something that almost everyone has experienced or has seen first-hand. A big time when a lot of people experience labeling theory is when they are growing up in school. When you are labeled in middle or high school your label usually sticks with you. You can be labeled in many different ways for example if you have a common last name or have older siblings your peers are going to compare you to your old siblings. If your older siblings did not behave in school, then your teachers are going to automatically assume you aren’t going to either. I don’t agree that people should be labeled like this, I think everyone should start off being looked at like they have done nothing wrong because these labels can cause someone one to act this way if you already think they have bad intensions.
I have been labeled my whole life based on my actions from my past. You should never judge a book by its cover because you make mistakes and you learn from them if it’s not a recurrence of the behavior, no that person should not be labeled as being bad or having angry issues their whole life . Throughout my years in high school my teachers, counselors and coaches always thought of me to be the sweetest person because they knew me and my character and didn’t go by what people labeled me as. By other people, I was unserious about school and they perceived that I never got my work done. Some even thought of me as “slow” or unintelligent. Now however, I’m in college and I definitely changed that image of myself to where my reputation doesn’t matter and people’s perception of me has gotten better .This is why it’s important to learn from your past .
I remember growing up in high school and late middle school there was always a group of kids who would be considered defiant and unteachable. In a way I could totally understand on why those groups were labeled that because of their actions and attitude towards their teachers. A lot of my friends would always call them a “savage” and “hilarious”, but at the end of the day you somewhat feel bad for that kid. Social theorist has mentioned the self-fulfilling prophesy. This basically supports my previous that’s of being sad for that kid. Because once he feels obligated to act out and stay cracking jokes and not doing schoolwork, he needs to do. He feels like this stigma in his life he must meet every day at school to feel normal. Labeling can be useful at times but can also be toxic to some at the same time.
During my time in high school our friend group had one guy in it that was heavier. It was all jokes and lighthearted but we would tease him for it here and there. His nickname in the group was elephant. After high school he joined the marines and got really fit through boot camp and training and he posted on his Snapchat story something along the lines of “to all the people in high school that called me fat, I’m not anymore”. Looking back on it it was pretty mean to make fun of that and he didn’t deserve that label. He didn’t become the label and trained and worked out to fight the label which is hard because most people succumb to the label but he took the harder route.
The labeling theory concerns two major things; how an act is defined as deviant, and how society responds to the act. This theory is closely related to the school of symbolic interactionism because it handles the concepts of a person’s decision making according to the people around them and the stigmas or labels put on them. An important thought to the theory is the idea of deviance, anything can be deviant but it is the society’s reaction to an act that makes it deviant not the act itself. If everyone was alright with robbing banks there would be no deviance attached to the act. By labeling someone as a deviant person we subject them to create more deviant acts in the future, once they act the first time and get labeled they internalize that stigma and continue to act upon it. We as a society should stop labeling people because once we do we fit them into a little checkbox that will most likely follow them throughout life.
One student that I went to school with from elementary up to high school was someone that had a label applied to them. Although I didn’t first have them as a classmate until 4th grade, there was a reputation among the other students that this one student was a “bad kid”. Although this label was not unwarranted (they had difficulty paying attention in class and were very combative, probably related to ADD or ADHD), it was hard for them to live outside of that label. They basically spent their entire primary and secondary school career as a troubled student, always the talk of the school. The last time I had them in a class was 10th grade English, in which they were still the same person as 4th grade. Due to COVID, I did not see them much during my junior and senior years of high school, but I believe they did end up graduating, but probably in the lower quartile of my class. Because of this, I believe that their educational opportunities are basically over and that they may be relegated to few employment opportunities.
During the time I was in middle school, I had this one friend in most of my classes which everyone considered to be a class clown. He would always get in trouble with the teachers and make dumb remarks. As time went on, his actions have gotten a lot worse when he got into high-school. In my opinion, he was actually a decent kid, but the label of being a “class clown” really troubled and got to him when he got in high-school. For example, there was this one time in high-school swim class. He would always give our swim teacher a hard time by just not doing anything right. I’ll never forget the one day where he wanted to be funny and jumped into the swimming pool with all of his clothes on. He got into big trouble and was suspended after that day. Honestly I haven’t seen him since that day. The “class clown” label can really steer your life in the wrong direction.
Starting off as a freshman in high school with sibling that is older can go two ways: being compared to them or being stuck behind their shadow. My sister is two years older than me and in high school we did the same sport and were on the same team of course. I was so shy as a freshman and my sister was a normal junior. Those two years i was constantly stuck behind her shadow and no one really thought of me as my own person. Everyone just only asked me if I was McKenzies sister and that’s the only way they knew me. Once she graduated, it all flipped around and i stopped caring what others thought and started to be myself. Everyone finally realized that I am my own person, not my sister who was embarrassed of me.
During my middle and high school years, anyone who was labeled anything was immediately excluded, and people avoided it to avoid being labeled as well. I believe there were many cases where people were not friends with specific people because that person had a label and did not want a label as well. There was a time in middle school when a girl in my class sent nudes and the other students and staff found out. Because other kids got these images, the police were called because many individuals were aware of the issue. I remember the entire middle school finding out and outcasting her and refusing to be friends with her as a result. It was widely known in my middle school years, and even after that school year, the subject of this girl sending nudes in middle school was brought up in the upcoming years following into high school.
The labeling theory was very interesting to me and very neat to learn about. A time I can think about seeing an example of the labeling theory was honestly in school. For me I felt like some of the teachers would label students right away especially if you played a sport or did something for the school. I also feel like some of the regular students were labeled right away as well because if some of the teachers had even heard your last name before they would ask if you were related to so and so right off the bat. I don’t agree with these labels being given just because teachers had problems in the past with athletes or students with the same last names or such. I think everyone should be given a clean slate and then if you mess it up and earn the title then it’s your fault, but I don’t agree with someone just automatically getting it. I think sometimes giving people these labels right away lowers their standards and kinda lowers the person’s energy in the environment. Most people do not deserve the labels, but unfortunately older siblings or other people have ruined things before and this is why these labels were given.
In middle school everyone began their love interests and started dating and cracking out of their shell. A kid that used to be in my friend group, his name was Thomas or Tommy, before he moved away received a label. I was never really close to Tommy, but some of my friends were so I would talk or hangout with him here or there. Everyone in my friend group had girlfriends or boyfriends except for Tommy and everyone would poke fun at him for not having a girlfriend. One day someone outside of our friend group made a joke to him about not having a girlfriend and he snapped at them by getting into a very large argument with them. Ever since that day Tommy was labeled as the kid with anger issues and everyone tried to avoid him. Due to people calling him this he would get mad more and more at the names before people just stopped talking to him. Tommy was not happy with this so he wound up going to the school counselors and principal to try and make things better, but their usual response was that the kids are only kids and are gonna do those kinds of things. Tommy ended up moving away because of the outcast he became and from being known as the kid with “anger issues”. Tommy did not deserve that label because he was a nice kid and only ever got mad at one person before getting called the kid with “anger issues”. Everyone has gotten mad at someone for something they have said, but never became an outcast.
I cannot think of one specific instance where I have seen labeling theory firsthand. However, it happens all the time, especially in schools. Students who may not get as good grades as others will be told by teachers that they will never amount to anything and are labeled as lazy or a “bad” student. When children are told they will never be anything in life they are not going to be motivated to do better or try to be successful. Labels place people in specific categories which they feel embody who they are. When your identity is subdued to one characteristic, so will your behavior. One who is labeled as an outcast may distance themselves from others and may have feelings of hostility towards others which ultimately leads to criminal behavior. Overall, labeling has an impact behavior and how we view ourselves as well as others in society.
I can remember a time in school when someone would get labeled negatively, which could cause them to pick up those labels. For the most part, the various labels come from our peers. Sometimes, however, labels can come from our teachers. In this case, she had one of her student’s brothers/sisters a few years prior and they were known as “trouble” in the classroom. She would jokingly say something along the line of “Not another one of the (last name).” Clearly, she was not trying to label him negatively. Although, that statement could have influenced how he would act from there on out. From what I remember, he was a good student and did not let this label define who he was. I think it is unfair for anyone who may have had a similar experience. They are being judged based on things their siblings have done, which could result in teachers treating them in a specific way without knowing them specifically.
When I was in middle school, I had a friend that was labeled by teachers, administration, and all the other kids as a trouble maker and class clown. During class he would talk while the teachers were talking, make inappropriate jokes, and not do any work he was supposed to do. One day during lunch, he threw food at other students and got in serious trouble. He kept that label going throughout middle school, but when we got to high school it seemed as if he matured. That was very wrong because he did something really gross and immature during Sophomore year. Other kids and myself grew away from him because of that immaturity and so we would not follow in his path.
In society today, labels are negative and most of the time hurtful. Although most labels come from other kids our age, this isn’t always the case. When I was a senior in high school, my sister was a freshman. This means that I had most of her teachers, so I knew which ones would be good for her. The only problem with her schedule was her English teacher. I had her when I was a freshman and she hated me. She saw me as a troublemaker because my friends often got suspended. I wasn’t like them, so this was a very inaccurate label of me. It was also unlike my sister, but it was passed down to her even though the teacher knew nothing about her. This then resulted in false accusations towards my sister which made her feel horrible about school. I didn’t deserve to be labeled as a troublemaker and neither did my sister.
I remember a time when I was in middle school and for the first week, it was this one kid who would always make jokes, laugh out loud, and do other things to distract the class. As the year went on the kid kept doing the same things and soon the teacher and my classmates gave the kid the label of the class clown. I still to this day don’t know if that label influenced the kid because it seemed like the kid didn’t care that they were labeled that but deep down inside you never know what the kid could be thinking/going through. Labels like this can really affect a kid when they get older without people even realizing it. I don’t think these labels are necessary, especially coming from a teacher. This label probably made the kid feel less than compared to their classmates. Even though the kid could be doing things to make the class laugh and disrupt the class, labeling a kid as a class clown isn’t right.
Labeling is a super interesting theory for me to think about in my opinion. One perfect example of labeling theory that I saw happen in school was when a kid a year older than me who was a super bad troublemaker and caused a lot of issues graduated and then his younger brother was an incoming freshman. The incoming freshman immediately had a label of being a bad kid, and it did end up being true and he was a bad kid like his brother, but I thought about did he deserve the label before he even came to school. I don’t think he deserves that label until he proves to be like the label. People shouldn’t be defined by their siblings or friends they are their own person, and it is out of the little brother’s control whether his older brother did bad things or not. I think a lot of times people get falsely labeled and I think it is wrong for that to happen to people when they have no control of what they are being labeled as.
So for where I came from my 8th grade year we were allowed to wear whatever clothes we wanted to wear without having a problem. But with where I grew up a lot of kids and families didn’t have a lot of money at the time. So a lot of kids really didn’t have that nice of clothes to wear. Well with that being said there were a lot of kids that git picked on for wearing the clothes they wore. The next year the school ended up changing that since there were a lot of bullying going on and they had out a dress code in place since the reason of that. So they figured if they had put out a dress code everyone would have to wear almost the same exact thing and no one can really say anything about that. So that’s the most I really came across things like that because in school I really always kept to myself.
One of my best friends in high school was always very quiet and shy. Although he was more comfortable around my friend group because we had all known him since we were very young. Whenever he would act a bit more extroverted or speak more than a few words, kids that were not as close as us would say things like “wow I can’t believe d said that” or “no way d did that”. After saying these things he would retreat back into his shell and get very nervous. I believe that it was because people labeled him as the shy kid and commented when he stood out that he would give into this label. Even I can relate to similar experiences because I was also very self kept but not to his degree. He was even voted for prom king and won, partially because he was very shy and people thought it would be funny to see how he would react. Although, he was very well liked also, so it was not kids just trying to be mean by putting him on the spot.
It is strange how labels given to us by other people become part of our daily lives. I studied in a small high school with only 100 students per grade. We were maybe 400 students most likely less in a closed environment. The older grades found it fun to assign roles to the new students and have them join the people they thought they could fit in with the best. Which led to you unconsciously ending up following the role they assigned you. When you think about it outside of that environment you understand that it’s a super bad thing. Many people ended up being ignored because someone said they were a freak. Others became popular because they adopted it. Even though it’s something that I don’t consider to be a good thing, there are people who end up discovering something good about themselves because of these labels. Likewise, there are people who end up hurting themselves because of what others said. I knew a girl who was a sweetheart of a person until they started labeling her as “the easy girl in school” she struggled with those prejudices for a long time until she finally decided to agree with them and act like she was everything they said. I think that’s why my opinion about labels is so bad, we shouldn’t judge people without knowing them and much less think they are one type of person because sometimes those people surprise you but others get carried away by everything you said about them.
There was a kid that went to my high school who liked receiving attention from harming himself in class. It’s not that we would give him attention because we knew that’s what he wanted. The things that he would try to do to himself in the classroom were disturbing to where you couldn’t help but give a reaction. It was already known that there were some things he was battling at home, so everyone tried to disregard what he would try to do. It got to the point where he made a school shooter hit list the next day. This was a list of names that included teachers and students. With the history of him trying to harm himself in class, we could only take his threat seriously. This resulted in him being suspended for a little over a week I believe. He also had to receive mental treatment I’m not sure if it was because of this or if he was receiving the help prior to the situation. He will probably be remembered as the school shooter kid by everyone in our graduating class. With the things he used to do to himself in class along with the list, the school shooter label is not a shocker. But I cannot say that anyone deserves to be labeled in that way.
So for me coming from a small school, which meant everyone knew everyone there was a lot less labeling and bullying, but there was always some like any public school. I was always the person that would walk around with friends or teammates that played the same sports I did or were in the same classes I was in and we were the more popular kids so we didn’t hear much labeling towards us, but when I look back at it we would label many underclassmen. We were like the jocks, but most of the time what we would say would never get out of our group, so we didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. Any labeling that we did was always just jokes with underclassmen on the basketball team or baseball team and no one cared or got hurt by it. It was like a cycle, when we were underclassmen we got picked on and labeled by the seniors, and every year a new batch of seniors would do the exact same thing.
So, this is a very personal story and for my sake, I’m going to be leaving some details out of it, however, in 8th grade, many of the people I associated myself with called me a “school shooter”. From what I can recall, they did this because of the way I dressed and how quiet I was. At first, I did not want to associate myself with such a label, especially because when this was occurring, news was coming out of an alleged trend of kids all over the country killing fellow classmates with firearms. As time went on, however, I began to go along with the label, almost embracing it from time to time. Part of the reason why was because of the attention it got me. Throughout most of my time in school, I’ve always been quiet and not as sociable as I should’ve been for someone my age, leading to a lack of attention from my peers. When I noticed, however, that I was getting some level of attention from this, albeit negative, I went along with it. I never intended to actually cause harm to other people, and I never did, however, near the end of the year, one student brought what they heard about me to the faculty of the school. This culminated in my suspension from the school for the remainder of the year and it could have led to time in a juvenile detention center, however, I was fortunate that it never came to that. I would argue that no one should have to go through something like that, yet oddly enough, I’m glad that happened to me. It made me realize that I should hold myself to a higher standard of responsibility and accountability. I would be lying however if I said that it doesn’t bother me to this day because it does.