Social Information
Dealing with others is a complex and ambiguous undertaking. In this context, labels are an efficient way to determine information about a person and sort them into a category you immediately understand. For example, if a student hears that a teacher is "strict" this label may be used by the student to modify their behavior around the teacher.Media
The media and organizations that feed the media such as governments commonly label people, ideas and groups. For example, the Japanese media often uses demographic and psychographic categories to describe criminal suspects such as foreigner, nerd (otaku), socially isolated person (hikikomori) or unemployed. These labels are so often applied to crimes that they generate negative biases about these groups.Systems
Systems may label people as part of processes. For example, a young student may be labeled a "special needs student" by a school system based on the opinion of a teacher or testing.Self-Identity
People may be affected by the labels applied to them by others. For example, if you apply positive labels to a young person you may inspire them to grow into this description. Likewise, applying negative labels could potentially cause individuals to adopt the negative traits expected of them. People also choose labels for themselves such as a young child who imagines themselves as a "hero", "princess", "genius", "rebel" or "singer."Stereotypes
A stereotype is an over-generalized belief about a category of people. This includes stereotypes about ethnicity, culture, gender, professions, cities, organizations and any other characteristics that can be used to group people. This is essentially a heuristic that is used to predict how people will behave. For example, you may have a stereotype that sports car drivers are overly aggressive such that you're cautious around them when driving a bicycle. Stereotypes aren't fair and can be hurtful if you treat individuals in a negative or dumb way based on a stereotype.Stigma
A stigma is a mark of disgrace or discredit that is applied to an individual or entity. For example, labels may be used to mark people as violators of the law, norms or values.Social Status
Social status is the respect that an individual enjoys due to factors such as intelligence, good deeds, wealth, accomplishments, style, coolness, position, authority and youthfulness. Labels are commonly used to communicate social status with phrases such as "bright", "wealthy", "stylish", "talented", "popular", "famous", "well connected" or "good looking."Political Correctness
Political correctness is the labeling of words as correct and incorrect. This can be a pragmatic process of avoiding words that are viewed as having a stigma attached to them in order not to insult people. In other cases, political correctness is invented in order to virtue signal or to invalidate the vocabulary of your political opposition.Groupthink
Groupthink is a process whereby people feel a need to carefully align their speech to an ideology, vocabulary and norm in order to avoid being labeled as the enemy of a group. Self-appointed gatekeepers in the group monitor speech and quickly label anyone who fails to comply with their notions of the ideology. The group then acts in unison to socially isolate and penalize the labeled individual.Medicalization
Medicalization is a tendency to view all human problems as a medical issue. This is associated with a tendency to label behaviors, emotions and people with concepts from popular psychology. For example, labeling someone a "psychopath."Cultural Capital
Cultural capital is an ability to influence others in the context of a culture. It is common to use labels to signal cultural capital by naming an individual's profession, memberships, city, education, experiences, abilities or background. For example, labels such as "doctor", "surfer", "American", "Bostonian", "Harvard graduate", "punk rocker", "sailor" and "award winning director" all indicate an ability to fit in to different types of cultures.Notes
Labeling is more or less inevitable as people generally seek to communicate efficiently using short phrases that communicate broad meanings. It is common to use the term labeling only in regards to negative behaviors and communication tactics designed to criticize or attack. However, as a matter of definition, labeling is necessarily negative or critical.It is a form of personal resilience not to be overly sensitive to labels. For example, a film director would waste their creative energies to worry about every label applied to them by critics.Summary
The practice of categorizing people using short phrases with extensive meaning attached to them.
| Overview: Labeling | ||
Type | ||
Definition | The act of communicating information about a person or entity using a short phrase that has strong meaning. | |
Also Known As | Labelling (British spelling)Social labeling | |
Related Concepts | ||
