Labelling

1. Labelling Neil Reardon - Brynteg Comprehensive School www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk

2. Are these labels fair? • “Alcoholic”: Someone who drinks more than 2 glasses of wine a day. • “Stupid”: Someone who achieves less than 5 GCSE’s. • “Troublemaker”: Someone who committed a crime 10 years ago but has been good ever since. • “Superstar”: Someone who is an excellent player but plays a division below what they could be playing? • “ Slag”: Someone who fell pregnant with the first person they had slept with as a teenager. www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk

3. Are labels negotiable? Discussion questions Does everyone get labelled? Do people have to accept labels? Will they have to change their behaviour to lose their label? Will they have to persuade others that the label is unfair? Do some people behave in a way that might attract a label? www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk

4. Master Status “ Don’t mess with him, he is a psycho”? “ He can get you anything you want, pills, weed, cocaine, he is a right druggie”! “ He must be crazy, he has been in a mental hospital for 20 years”! www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk

5. Master Status • What is a master status? • Why might a person who get a master status change the way in which s/he thinks about him or herself? • Give examples of master statuses that are not easy to get rid of. www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk

6. Questions: • Does it matter who is applying the labels? Explain your answer • What factors can affect the chances of you being labelled? Give an example to support your ideas. www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk

7. Deviance and self-fulfilling prophecy • Why can being labelled lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy? www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk