Labeling Theory In A Class Divided

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Recent research on labeling theory emphasize the more informal of labeling from your community, parents, or friends. When individuals are labeled by the people who they interact on a daily basis, it has a greater impact on how you feel about yourself compared to being labeled by a police officer. Undoubtedly, in the 1970s and 1980s research on labeling theory created some major criticisms over the empirical findings that supported the theory because it was hard to test without violating the Internal Review Board standards. However, some who are never formally punished and get labeled for committing crime. Unlike, some who are punished and labeled desist from committing crime. However, the threat of a label may deter someone from committing …show more content…
In A Class Divided, a teacher named Jane Elliot wanted to teach her third grade students about discrimination since Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed the day before. In a small town of Iowa, Jane Elliot conducted a classroom experiment that would be considered as daring. The experiment involved treating the children in her classroom who had a certain eye color (blue) as superior to children with brown eyes. The students had to wear a colored color to digunsh them for the superior group. During the first day, the students who had blue eyes had increased their academic performance because they felt they were smarter than brown eyes. The students who were brown eyed they experienced lower academic performance and felt self-segregated from their classmates. The next day, Jane Elliot switched and had the brown eyes be superior to the blue eye people, which resulted in the same results as the previous day. Near the end of day, Jane Elliot wanted to see if the children learned about discrimination and asked why they behaved the way they did when labeled as superior. After having the discussion, the children learned about discrimination and the affects it has, which is still with them as