The power of labelling in development practice

This paper addresses the issues of the power and politics of labelling in development. The brief points out that labelling has been a paradigm utilised widely by public institutions in Europe and North America since the eighteenth century, and is rationalised as important to rational and objective decision making.

The brief gives some disadvantages of labelling, including the following:

• it is reductionist in that it can sometimes reduce people’s life-stories and diverse identities to simple cases and problems. This can also systematically exclude large groups of people whose situations are not captured. Furthermore, categories generated can be inadequate for informing the best method of intervention.
• there is a danger for misinterpretation labels tend to reflect a particular interpretation of the underlying problem. Furthermore it tends to be done in a top-down approach that can actually fuel conflict.
• labels generated by development agencies can cause people to be stigmatised.
• bureaucratic labelling can hinder accountability

The brief also points out that while labelling usually has negative consequences, some people also benefit from it if they belong to or aspire to belong to a group that is labelled as privileged, etc.

The brief then gives several recommendations on recognising and responding to the power and politics of labelling.