Humans, as a whole, love labels. Humans have always liked to subdivide themselves, whether that's by skin colour, native language, gender or nation. In the past, it was tribes and clans that caused divides, and such was people's loyalty to the group that they would fight or kill others that didn't have the same label as them. Unfortunately labelling can also lead to the extreme kinds of situations that cause the other group to be dehumanised. It was a factor behind the Holocaust, the Irish Troubles, the Sunni / Shi'ite divide, the Crusades and arguably the witch trials of the medieval period.

Nowadays people tend to prefer labels as a way to show they are individuals, in a world that has been expanding so rapidly that the current individual mentality is seriously struggling. It's where the "snowflake" insult comes from; people want to stand out from the crowd and be recognised for who they are.

I think labels fulfil several functions:

- They help you find out who you are, important in an individualistic culture

- They help you find other people like you so you can be reassured you aren't alone. People can unite and form communities behind that label, e.g. LGBT

- They can help you identify groups you want to avoid

I don't really go in for labels. I used to have a Christian identity, and before that I used the atheist label, but I don't think it's worth using the "agnostic" label unless I need to explain what I think quickly to people.

I don't really use my "bisexual" label since I'm currently in a relationship that passes for straight, and I don't particularly want to get involved with the LGBT+ community either.

I don't use a political label because people then judge you for the label rather than your individual beliefs, which might not all align with your chosen position.

I sometimes use the labels "English", "British" and "European" but only in some contexts as the former two can have quite negative connotations when used as labels and the last one is politically charged.

Some people like labels. I can accept that. But a label doesn't define who you are so much as explain who you are. You can change. You can step outside your label at times. And you should always assess a person by their beliefs, not their labels.

Before I even start to argue my point of view, I would like to let you know I am 100% against labels.

People give out labels because they are afraid that something may change and nothing will be the same. We are raised to know and do one thing. So, when someone decides, "you know what I like the same sex as myself", people freak out. It also doesn't help that the Bible apparently says stuff against the things people label. All religions have certain things that they label and quite frankly I don't think its right. When a Muslim woman or man is accused of being terrorists, or an LGBTQ+ person is bullied, a black person is targeted by authority yet the white man gets away with it, the girls are used, the guys are stereotyped, or any of that kind of thing happens, how do you think they feel? Like absolute crap. Its all just a way the world makes everyone hate each other. What is worse is when someone gets along with someone else they immediately become a bad guy. Sometimes you just have to realize that the world will never be a nice place. You will always deal with horrible people.

Hello n:

If everyone were the same, as in EQUALLY FREE, we wouldn't even NOTICE the differences.. But, ONE political group, called RIGHT WINGERS, don't want SOME people to be free, so they separate them, and give them a name..

excon

I would say it's because in general people find it easier to blame an entire group for some preconceived wrongs as opposed to actually putting in effort to determine if it's just a single person. Example given on this site are picking out some extreme liberals/Religious group/etc...and saying that everyone in that party or in that affiliation thinks like that. It's wrong more times than not but that would mean picking on the person instead of the party which is really why they are here to begin with. The world isn't black or white only but that's all people want to see.

A question, certainly to be asked.. we as humans love to live in groups and share and exchange ideas with each other. But there are some ideologies that are common for many people, and when many people agree upon the similar ideology they like, they like to term their gathering, using a label, such as "liberals" or "conservatives".. and as of people whining, they try to guess the ideology you possibly belong to, simply because they believe everyone has to come under one... which is not necessarily true...

Hate those "labelists". Let's just point at them and scream "you labelist! And then let's slap a scarlet L on them and make them wear it.

That was fun.

Now to be serious, I agree, forcing one of a handful of labels onto somebody seldom leads to understanding them better or persuading them. More often it's just a tactic to try to sidestep dealing directly with their legitimate issues and arguments.

One can process persuasive information in one of two ways; via the central route or via the peripheral route. Processing through the central route consists of the logical and factual evaluation of the ideas and arguments presented. Peripheral route processing, on the other hand, consists of the decision to agree or disagree based on other factors. These include the perceived credibility of the source, emotional reasons, sheer number of arguments and heuristics.

Those using labels are generally processing the information presented to them through the peripheral route and dismissing the arguments based on reasons other than factual and logical analysis. As such, it is enough that the source is, for example, on the right wing to dismiss the arguments as false.