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Analyzing Kennedy's Labeling Theory

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Labeling Theory

In general, labeling theorist focus on how and why certain acts are defined as criminal. Under labeling theory, nit everyone who commits an offense is punished for it. Becker (1963) stated that social groups create deviance by creating the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling as outsiders. As a result, once a certain label is placed on an individual, he or she eventually accept the label as personal identity. In the book Nigger, Kennedy (2002) traces the history of the word “nigger.” Kennedy states the word nigger can be said in many ways (e.g. niggor, niggah, nigguh, niggur, and niggar), put to many uses, and mean many things. For instance, nigger is …show more content…

Thus, they would support Kennedy on his lack of attention paid to such matter. Labelling theorists would praise Kennedy’s (2002) research on his extensive coverage of the word nigger, tracing its history and portraying the many ways, uses, and meaning of the word. Labelling theorist would also applaud his coverage of the ways in which African Americans react to the word or label, as demonstrated through various cases in chapter two, nigger in court. Nonetheless, labeling theorists would critique Kennedy on his huge reliance of the legal system to validate his arguments. Labeling theory posit that criminality or any labels, are established by those in power through creations of laws, rules or regulations and the interpretation of those laws by agents of the criminal justice system including the police, courts, and correctional institutions. Thus relying on the legal system to illustrate his arguments seem questionable. They would also criticize him for making excuses or justifying the use of the term by whites. One of his most important key point, if not the central argument, is that when white people say the N-word, it does not necessarily mean or imply they are racists. Labelling theorists would argue the opposite. They would argue, along with support from critical race theorists, that the use of slurs and labels by members of the majority groups, whites,results in the subordination of the minorities, especially people of color in society (Bell,

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The words, “nigger” and “faggot,” I feel are being used more often as a counter to the malediction that was placed on this words; either it be during the civil war in the nineteenth century or the modern day. George Carlin said that there are only bad thoughts and intentions that turn the words that we use into ones that may inflict pain: Both nigger and faggot are degrading terms that by themselves have no power, but when there is a meaning behind them that is intended to inflict agony upon the receiver of the word, only then does the word take on its true form. Nigger, was used commonly in the South part of America during the Civil War, where black people were kept as slaves. The word derives from many languages spelling of the word black,

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Thesis: Both authors in the essay “In Defense of Prejudice” and “Mommy What does ‘Nigger’ Mean?” address controversial topics in the world. While Rauch tackles the idea to protect minorities, Naylor discusses the power of language; however, they both hit on the different stereotypes presented to them throughout their own lives. By successfully using their own personal stories, both authors are able to justify their arguments and create credible personas for the audience.

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If you ask two different people what the n word meant you would probably get two completely different responses. One might say it is insulting and degrading, another might say it is a term of endearment. Throughout Huck Finn this word was used a total of 219 times. If the n word were not a degrading term there would not be so much controversy about banning and censoring Huck Finn. However, the word has been altered since it was used in the time period of Huck Finn.

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“A Word’s Meaning” was written by author and professor Gloria Naylor to educate others about how and why a word can come to have different interpretations. Naylor gives examples of the various spoken meanings of the word “nigger” to support her claim. She describes different situations in her life where the word was spoken by different people in different situations in different ways, and she delineates how all these shape the meaning of a word that is seen as taboo in the English language. She uses these examples to prove her point that a word does not have any concrete meaning. Naylor explains - in a very intellectual way - the meaning of the word, as if it were a dictionary definition.

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Nigger is a noun in the English language. It had originally come from the Spanish/ Portuguese variation of Negro, which originated from the Latin adjective Niger. It was first used by John Rolfe to explain the first African slave ships in Virginia during 1619. In

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This little kid in a school uniform no older than seven years old, he was crying his eyes out as he walked down the sidewalk with his mother. I 'm going to be honest here, she turned to him, and she said ‘I 'm sick of you. You act like an old ass man, stop all that crying, nigger.’” This goes to show how the word is used often, but it is not used in its original

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Taking place in Of Mice and Men, there is a character by the name of Crooks who is an African American who is repeatedly said the n-word to. During a scene where Lennie, Crooks, and another character, Curley’s wife are having a conversation, Curley’s Wife attacks and threaten Crooks by defiantly saying, “‘Well, you keep your place then n*gger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain 't even funny,’” (OMAN 81). Calling him by the n-word, a racial slur, is the one of the most racist things one could say to an African American.

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From that point into the early nineteenth century the word nigger sat as the cornerstone of white racism being used as a noun, verb, or adjective. It was used to emphasize the stereotype of a person who was lazy, unintelligent, dirty, who also happened to be

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An example is the word “thug”. Thug is almost always in reference to a Black or Latino male, and in many perspectives is seen as the new polite way to say the N-word. In Bush’s speech he uses

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Meanings are in people, not words [Sapir-Whorf] (186). From this movie we gather that the “N” word has had, and still has, harmful impacts on many African American Individuals. African Americans have had their life defined by the “N” word. From culture to culture words have different meanings; the “N” word in white American culture was demeaning and disrespectful toward blacks and still is today. This is the denotative meaning or the dictionary meaning.

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