Uncovering the Dirty TruthIn the 1960s, Howard Becker reintroduced the main labeling concepts of Emile Durkheim when he created the theory of labeling. Becker's labeling theory stems from the theoretical perspective, symbolic interactionism, and asserts that when a person is labeled by someone of higher prestige or status, the labeled person is likely to accept the labeling. etiquette and to conform to it, due to the self-fulfilling prophecy (Thio 34). On the other hand, society is not the only one that contributes to how a person is labeled. In Cooley's "Looking Glass Self Theory," Cooley states that everyone sees themselves as they perceive others, which causes individuals to become more aware of how society perceives them. These two theories created a basis for my labeling experiment because each provides evidence of society's influence on an individual. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Although this may sound disgusting and unsanitary, in an attempt to get people to believe my actions, I decided to break with the norm of hand washing. in the shared bathroom in my hallway. What the “public” (those who shared my hallway bathroom) didn’t know was the fact that I would come back to my dorm and wash my hands in my personal sink. Apparently, if we ask why people wash their hands after using the toilet, the normal answer would be because it is hygienic. While it is true to say that it is hygienic and therefore prevents the spread of disease, it is arguable that people mainly wash their hands because they will consider someone who does not wash their hands hands as dirty or disgusting and will therefore treat them differently. At the beginning of my experience, I found it extremely annoying to come out of the bathroom with people thinking I wasn't washing my hands. It was common for girls to watch me go out, waiting to see if I was really going to wash my hands or not. The more people noticed that I wasn't washing my hands in the bathroom, the easier it was for them to collectively label me as "the girl who doesn't wash her hands." People who had seen me violating the norm would now project their idea of ​​what they had seen and apply it to the kind of person they saw me to be; an unsanitary and dirty person who was incapable of doing something as simple as maintaining my hygiene. I decided to continue this experiment for more than a day in order to obtain as many different results as possible. The second day was pretty similar to the first in that no one stopped to ask if I was going to wash my hands or comment. the general act of being unsanitary. Most of the people who saw me walking out in disbelief were different than the day before, but when one of the same girls from earlier saw me in the bathroom, she made it a point to look at what I was going to do; analyze whether or not I would get into the habit of not washing my hands. On the second day, I met two girls who I recognized from the first day of my experience. To my surprise, the same two girls who had silently ridiculed me the day before actually performed the same actions they were judging me for. After only two days, I had managed to make it clear that it seemed socially acceptable, to a certain extent, to leave a public establishment without washing one's hands, regardless of whether sinks were available in..