The Power of Labelling: How People are Categorized and Why It Matters

What does it mean to be part of the mass known as 'The Poor'? What visions are conjured up in our minds when someone is labelled 'Muslim'? What assumptions do we make about their needs, values and politics? How do we react individually and as a society? Who develops the labels, what power do they carry and how do such labels affect how people are treated? This timely book tackles the critical and controversial issue of how people are labelled and categorized, and how their problems are framed and dealt with. Drawing on vast international experience and current theory, the authors examine how labels are constituted and applied by a variety of actors, including development policy makers, practitioners and researchers. The book exposes the intense and complex politics involved in processes of labelling, and highlights how the outcomes of labelling can undermine stated development goals. Importantly, one of the book's principal objectives is to suggest how policy makers and professionals can tackle negative forms of labelling and encourage processes of 'counter-labelling', to enhance poverty reduction and human rights, and to tackle issues of race relations and global security. The Afterword encapsulates these ideas ands provides a good basis for reflection, further debate and action.

Joy Moncrieffe is a political sociologist and Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS, UK).

Rosalind Eyben is a development social scientist at IDS with a career in international development policy and practice, and editor of Relationships for Aid (2006).