Labeling Theory and Its Impact

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Introduction:
Have you ever experienced a time when your parents called you a genius and you truly felt like one? How about when a professor pointed fingers at you because he thought you were cheating on a test? Most certainly you felt some type of shame or guilt; or probably got so tired of your colleagues negative thoughts that you decided to embrace it and just go along with it. These are just a few examples of the impact that people’s opinions or thoughts can have on your reputation. Think for a second about the Stanford Prison Experiment, which demonstrates the influential role that a situation can play in human behavior. The individuals chosen to perform as guards were placed in a position of power and thus they began to behave differently; as well as the ones given the role of prisoners (labeled) who had no real control of the situation and became submissive and depressed. Labeling theory explains how people become labeled as deviants when their behaviors collide with social norms. The Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs are an example of a subculture that has been labeled for a long time. They have become hardcore deviants and have committed various criminal acts. Labeling has greatly impacted the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs and has contributed to their continuous criminal careers.
Labeling Theory and Its Impact:
Society has for a long time made rules that if breached will create deviance or criminality. As described by Howard S. Becker in his book Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, “the deviant is one to whom the label has successfully been applied; deviant behavior is behavior that people so label”. This is a common process that each and every one of us uses as a way to classify an individual. When someone...

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...then labeled or “marked” in a way that compares him or her to the “norm”. Labeling theory has been used by professionals and theorists to examine how people view themselves and to evaluate why some commit criminal acts. The Outlaw Motorcycle clubs are an illustration of this; their subculture can be seen as a society built around a world where conflict is constant, and others perceptions have made their self-concept, whether they like it or not. They have being constructed “along militaristic, hierarchical lines, a highly ordered, controlled, and black-and-white world in which individuals may understand implicitly their role, their identity, their place in a society” (Dulaney, 2005). With a look into the fundamentals of labeling theory we can come to understand that it is easier for a stigmatized person to live with and incorporate the label rather than fight it.

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