BLUF
Labels might seem mundane, but they can be far from harmless as they imply a value judgement about the person labelled and can result in people being treated in a way that is both prejudical and fails to use their actual skills.Summary
KEY POINTS:
- Labels have consequences—rarely good ones.
- The danger with labels is that they undermine people and can delegitimize them.
- Those labelled may react differently: some may accept it; some ignore it, but some—as they should and are entitled to do—reject and question the process of labelling people.
- An excellent example of commonplace but widespread labelling is that of labelling people based on the date they were born:
References
- GENERATIONAL STEREOTYPING 01: COLLECTION | The Runway (airforce.gov.au)
- JUL 2022 It’s Rarely Helpful To Label Someone ‘Racist,’ But Not For The Reasons You Might Think—Forbes
- JUL 2022 The Labels We Attach to People—Mind Tools
