Cause And Effect Of Labeling Essay

In social terms, labels represent a way to identify and differentiate people. Many people consider it as a form of prejudice and discrimination. One of the common methods that are used to label people is derived from a more general way of perceiving members of a certain religion, gender, ethnicity, nationality, or some other group. Therefore, labeling is a process of creating descriptors for identification of people that differ from the norm. It is very definitive, meaning that once said, it holds meaning, and that is what we shall always keep in mind. When many people hold a certain perception towards a certain group, that perception or point of view becomes a stereotype. Most labeling and stereotypes are negative. Labels can be very harmful

That is what used to categorize people, to identify groups, and of course, to discriminate against others. There was a group of people which was referred to as the ‘genius crew’, who used to be the top rankers in class. Others were named after different animals for their cunning nature, big bodies, or heights. That had very negative effects on their lives especially in school. The label that brought much trouble was on one young man, who was labeled as the ‘thief gay’. The label thief came from a time when he was found possessing some other student’s calculator and would not give it back until the owner identified it with a mark he had put on a hidden part. The label ‘gay’ came from the nature of the student to like taking care of his appearance by applying very smelly body lotions and

It brought this man down because he would not even get himself out of that label. Whenever something was missing in class, or whenever anyone misplaced anything, it was all on this man. Other students would go to him with much noise claiming that he had decided to make other students poor by stealing their property. It went on like that until the whole school came to realize this label. The worst part of it was that even the teachers and the whole administration of the school heard these allegations that the student was a thief and a gay too.

These allegations and the label lowered his self-esteem and caused a very detrimental emotional damage on him. Initially, he used to be in the group of the genius crew, who topped in the class. His performance became noticeably poor which even caught his parents’ attention. But at that moment very little or simply nothing would have been done to save his situation as long as he stayed in that school, for which he lacked an alternative apart from staying. It came to a point that he could not even associate with other male students since they would claim that he wanted to get into an intimate friendship with