by Shane Riley

Created on: January 04, 2009

LABELING THEORY and BLACK AMERICA

Labeling theory can be described as any label given by society to any individual, race, or social group based upon the behavior of that individual, race, or social group. The labeling theory is used to label certain groups of individuals in the minority race, or social groups as being deviant solely based on the deviant behavior of the individuals belonging to that race or social group.

Society assumes that all people belonging to minority races or social groups that have a high rate of delinquency or deviant behavior must also be deviant even though they conform to the laws of society and are not deviant. This is what happens when society unjustly labels people or groups based upon the behavior of a small amount of people belonging to that race or social group.

In the case of black male juvenile delinquents, the label that society has assigned to black male juveniles influences the way the rest of society views and interacts with black males. Many times, this label causes people to judge unfairly black males. People see the color, sex, and age group of the black male and they automatically assume that he must be up to no good. Some people also fear a black male because of the label society has placed upon them. Society has labeled black male juveniles as being delinquent and deviant because statistics show that black males have a higher rate of delinquency and deviant behavior than that of white males of the same age group.

When society labels a youth as being delinquent, they are forced to play the role that society has labeled them as because they feel that it is considered their behavioral norm and they think that delinquent and deviant behavior is expected of them by their peers and by the rest of society.

It is seen everyday in the inner cities of urban America that the police and the people in society treat and interact with black males differently than they do white males. This is directly related to the label that society has placed upon the black male. By labeling certain individuals, minority races, and social groups, society is only hurting itself and causing problems for those people who are innocent and conform to the laws of society but belong to the race or social group that has been labeled as delinquent or deviant. Placing a label on a person for any reason is not a responsible or polite thing to do and it should not be tolerated because labels hurt everything society stands to gain.

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