SOC 2070 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Labeling Theory
7 Dec 2016
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Some behaviours get interpreted as mental illness symptoms by doctors. Symptoms are often mere violations of social norms. Ex: people who act withdrawn, mumble to themselves, hallucinate out of appropriate context. Symptoms can be caused by other factors (stress, exhaustion, monotony, drug use, etc. ) Symptoms labelled as mi by powerful psychiatrists at respected institutions the patient is aware of cultural stereotype/ stigma and they internalize mi label (he/ she self-identifies) Encouraged to accept mi label and warned about not getting treatment. If you reject the treatment it is further evidence of your illness the patient is so stressed and stigmatized, he/she accepts the mental illness label and actually becomes ill reflects the logic of lemert"s primary/ secondary deviance. Critiques: insufficient evidence that labelling leads to chronic illness. A modified labelling approach (link et al. Widespread assumption that mi leads to devaluation and discrimination. View shared by those who are ill and those who aren"t.
