Labelling
Interactionists suggest that there are several ideas which underline labelling theory. One of these is the particular situation in which people find themselves in. We can clearly see that if we label people as failures then this will affect how we react to those people. We can see in the past how people reacted to people who were regarded as mad and the mental institution of Bethlehem which later gave rise to the word bedlam showed how in the past such people could often be viewed in the same way as people would now go to a zoo to watch animals. On a less dramatic note we can see that people such as the former Labour minister David Blunkett were regarded as second rate because of their blindness. The assumption was that they could not be educated in the normal way.
Interactionists also talk about the ‘looking glass self’. Charles Cooley suggests that we develop our ideas of who we are when we take on the role of other people to try to see ourselves how they would regard us. Disabled people have often commented that people see the disability rather than the real person behind that disability. One of the effects of the Paralympics held in London in 2012 was that it altered the perceptions of people with disabilities. In the Commonwealth games, both athletes and para-sport athletes were held at the same time to reinforce the concept of just how much people could achieve. The third concept is career. Howard Becker and Edwin Lemert extend the normal definition of career to also cover the progress an individual makes internally regardless of whether they have a job or not. For example, someone with a mental illness begins as a ‘pre-patient’, is labelled by a psychiatrist, becomes an in-patient and is then discharged. Each of the stages gives the individual a different status and different problems to overcome, for example reintegrating themselves into society once they have been discharged. However this concept has been criticised as being one of determinism rather than reflecting the reality, despite being generally regarded as a voluntaristic theory. Goffman’s dramaturgical model Erving Goffman suggests that we construct the role of ourselves by manipulating others impressions of us. …show more content…
He uses drama analogies to analyse the interactions we perform in society. For example, actors have scripts, props and a backstage as well as audiences, performances and roles that we have adopted.
We might notice here that part of the problems of psychological testing which organisations have used to determine whether people are suitable for certain occupations all levels of seniority system are naive in assuming that people cannot spot what organisations expect from them and therefore adjust perception of them accordingly. The human relations department will notice that some people are able to give good interview performances that do not reflect a person’s real personality. We can find more melodramatic examples of this in Nazi Germany, where the people in charge of the gas chambers often introduced themselves to their victims in a very polite manner without the victims realising what was happening. Goffman suggests we often want to present a certain image of ourselves to audiences and will therefore control the impressions we can use. We can study the audiences to see their responses and therefore adjust accordingly the language and the gestures, props and clothing etc to carry out this role. We can see the ways in which teachers as well as public speakers will often modify the language which they use as well as actions to try to portray a particular image. Politicians have increasingly used make-up artists, learnt how to position their hands and control non-verbal gestures as well as tone of voice in order to appear to have more empathy with potential voters or decision makers. During the Scottish referendum debates in 2014 between Alastair Darling for the “no” campaign and Alex Salmond for the “yes” campaign attracted a great deal of media coverage about the ways in which they performed not known and how they could change the perceptions of them before the second debate which was going to have BBC national coverage, rather than just within Scotland. Evaluation of symbolic interactionism Sociologists might suggest that it doesn’t explain very much but just
Interactionists suggest that there are several ideas which underline labelling theory. One of these is the particular situation in which people find themselves in. We can clearly see that if we label people as failures then this will affect how we react to those people. We can see in the past how people reacted to people who were regarded as mad and the mental institution of Bethlehem which later gave rise to the word bedlam showed how in the past such people could often be viewed in the same way as people would now go to a zoo to watch animals. On a less dramatic note we can see that people such as the former Labour minister David Blunkett were regarded as second rate because of their blindness. The assumption was that they could not be educated in the normal way.
Interactionists also talk about the ‘looking glass self’. Charles Cooley suggests that we develop our ideas of who we are when we take on the role of other people to try to see ourselves how they would regard us. Disabled people have often commented that people see the disability rather than the real person behind that disability. One of the effects of the Paralympics held in London in 2012 was that it altered the perceptions of people with disabilities. In the Commonwealth games, both athletes and para-sport athletes were held at the same time to reinforce the concept of just how much people could achieve. The third concept is career. Howard Becker and Edwin Lemert extend the normal definition of career to also cover the progress an individual makes internally regardless of whether they have a job or not. For example, someone with a mental illness begins as a ‘pre-patient’, is labelled by a psychiatrist, becomes an in-patient and is then discharged. Each of the stages gives the individual a different status and different problems to overcome, for example reintegrating themselves into society once they have been discharged. However this concept has been criticised as being one of determinism rather than reflecting the reality, despite being generally regarded as a voluntaristic theory. Goffman’s dramaturgical model Erving Goffman suggests that we construct the role of ourselves by manipulating others impressions of us. …show more content…
He uses drama analogies to analyse the interactions we perform in society. For example, actors have scripts, props and a backstage as well as audiences, performances and roles that we have adopted.
We might notice here that part of the problems of psychological testing which organisations have used to determine whether people are suitable for certain occupations all levels of seniority system are naive in assuming that people cannot spot what organisations expect from them and therefore adjust perception of them accordingly. The human relations department will notice that some people are able to give good interview performances that do not reflect a person’s real personality. We can find more melodramatic examples of this in Nazi Germany, where the people in charge of the gas chambers often introduced themselves to their victims in a very polite manner without the victims realising what was happening. Goffman suggests we often want to present a certain image of ourselves to audiences and will therefore control the impressions we can use. We can study the audiences to see their responses and therefore adjust accordingly the language and the gestures, props and clothing etc to carry out this role. We can see the ways in which teachers as well as public speakers will often modify the language which they use as well as actions to try to portray a particular image. Politicians have increasingly used make-up artists, learnt how to position their hands and control non-verbal gestures as well as tone of voice in order to appear to have more empathy with potential voters or decision makers. During the Scottish referendum debates in 2014 between Alastair Darling for the “no” campaign and Alex Salmond for the “yes” campaign attracted a great deal of media coverage about the ways in which they performed not known and how they could change the perceptions of them before the second debate which was going to have BBC national coverage, rather than just within Scotland. Evaluation of symbolic interactionism Sociologists might suggest that it doesn’t explain very much but just