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Essay On Labeling Theory

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Recommended: Personal identity and social identity

Societies obtain specific norms that citizens follow on an everyday basis. We try to fit in with society by following these specific norms, but when some disobey these norms, society has taught us to label them as deviant, and look down upon them by their actions. Someone can be labeled deviant by behavior, appearance, ideas of an individual or specific group that some people in society find offensive. When someone is categorized as a deviant for whatever reason, it changes the way members of a society treat and view the deviant. Therefore, it changes the way the deviant treats and views herself/himself. The labeling theory is based on the idea that behaviors are deviant only when society labels them as deviant. According to the textbook, the …show more content…

Adult labels drastically influence opportunities like employment. An appearance label could immediately change a job opportunity. A label associated with socioeconomic status can directly impact relationships with other people. In our society, a person of lower class is treated as though they are less than some one of a higher class. People in our society make automatic assumptions about people based on socioeconomic status. For example, someone of the higher class could possibly be treated poorly due to the assumption that may be made that they are snobby. Being of the higher class also comes with the treatment of others who view them as attractive or desirable because of their label. This goes to show that labels and their associated treatments can be positive or negative.
The labeling theory is based of off opinions and conclusions made by sociologists and others; however, there has been extensive research on how the labeling theory is used in the criminal justice system. Not only can this concept be applied to criminology but also our daily lives. If we understand the labels we give people and the labels we own, we would be able to understand where we make judgement flaws. I think we could all agree that people can be nasty towards others and in order to improve we must be willing to educate ourselves in

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The labeling theory proposes deviance is socially constructed through reaction instead of action. In other words, according to this theory, no behavior is naturally deviant on its own. Instead, it's the reaction to the behavior that makes it deviant or not (Long-Crowell, 2003). Labeling theory helps to explain why a behavior is considered negatively deviant to some people, groups, and cultures but positively deviant to others. The sheriff deputies working for Manitowoc County at a very young age considered the entire Avery family as a bunch of no good trouble makers (Long-Crowell, 2003).

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An example would be what I just explained up above; being a woman. I was labelled as weak because of my gender but would end up surprising others when they could see that I can do the same things as any other male. Another example of a time when I felt that I was being labelled was when I would buy a drink at Starbucks and be called a “white girl” based on the place I had bought my drink. But if I had bought that coffee at Tim Hortons, nobody would have said anything. This is an odd example to use for this topic but when you get judged constantly because the brand of your coffee can magically match your skin colour, it gets a little annoying.

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The modern society allows and encourage people to own their different thinking and ideas and this tendency makes very diverse environment. However, the same characteristics of the environment are still existing and influence people who live in this place in same way. In Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Ride and Fall of New York City Crime”, discusses about how Bernie Goetz changed his behavior after being assaulted and affected by the situation he lived in while he was robbed, which mainly reflects how environment and dangerous situation changed human beings’ minds and behaviors. The other author Leslie Bell focus on the the different situations for young women and their different reactions in “Sections from Hard

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The labeling effect is when somebody comes out of prison or jail, but are still seen as a criminal because they went to prison or jail. The law allows former criminals to be deny for housing or jobs on the basis that they were in prison or jail (144). This leads to people who are labeled to have a hard time getting jobs, a home, and being part of the community as they are seen as bad people (141). Since the War on Drugs puts so many poor black people in prison, we have make people with already difficult lives, lives more difficult. This could potentially lead to the person doing more crime as they may feel like they have little choice on what to do since everyone sees them as a

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In Rosalind Wiseman’s essay “The Queen Bee and Her Court” she classifies teenage girls in a high school structure. The way Wiseman differentiates between these roles are very exact and distinct amongst the others. The classification amongst people is usually avoided amongst people, but Wiseman addresses the subject well. Classifying people is wrong and shouldn’t be done by anyone, yet it still happens every day. Distinctions amongst people are usually bad and offensive, but in some cases it may be possible.

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Eliminating these lethal aggressions begins with remedying unconstructive interactions consisting of detrimental symbolic labels. Educating students, teachers, parents, and others that “different” is not the equivalent of “bad” would aid in reevaluating commonly shared labels and

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Labels can do far more harm than hurting someone’s feelings. According to a theory in sociology known as labeling theory, giving other people labels causes them to feel a connection to that label over time. In our high school environment, this appears to be true. Many students who classmates called athletic or smart during freshman year confidently identify as so by now. During my time here, I have made personal fitness a large part of my life, and I believe it was because my football team saw me as a weight lifting enthusiast despite me having no athletic background.

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I rarely label people for their looks or financial status. I just leave them alone. If they don 't call me names i 'm not gonna call them names. I have heard people call others names and stereotype people. I have heard people 's stereotypes and believed they were true, but i eventually would notice that it was a lie.

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This leads up to what type of statuses you hold as a human being. No matter who you are people label you in a specific way this what a status is, as a person you can have many different statuses it could be that you are white middle class

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Deviance has many functions in society. Although deviance violates social norms, without it, we would not have rules, so it helps form, guide, and shape society’s norms and goals. Social norms are different from culture to culture. Norms that may be acceptable in one culture may be frowned upon in another. Emile Durkheim quotes that “deviance and deviant behavior is an integral part of all healthy societies (Adler, 2014, p74).”

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the last but most important point deviant behaviour is labelling that is most of the people after this are thought bad or good depending on deviation . and the group or that organization is always thought to be the same and not accepted by the society later . “Once the deviant label is attached, it is pretty hard for it to be

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According to Hunt and Colandar (2011), a word deviant refers to when an individual’s actions contradict with society’s norms. For instance, majority peoples followed norms because society expect individual to behave in morally tolerate with each other. Those failing to conform the norms noted as deviant. In a social context, the task of the society is to blind the action of the social community together. Once failing to act them to the society’s reaction that seem as deviant.

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Identity of oneself is different than the identity that other may see. I wish to see in the hope near future that labels are not used for means of discrimination but as a way of to accept the different types of people. What need to happen to accomplish this is acception. We need to acknowledge the facts. No need for pointing fingers at each other when no action is being done.

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Many groups or cultures have different views on what is considered deviant.

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