Final answer:
Labeling people who fall outside one's own group as inferior or marginal is known as stigmatization or out-group discrimination, often leading to social exclusion and biased treatment.
Step-by-step explanation:
Labeling people who fall outside of one's own group as abnormal, inferior, or marginal is known as stigmatization or out-group discrimination. This occurs when members of an in-group (the group to which one belongs) view those in the out-group (those outside the group) in a negative light.
This approach is a reflection of ethnocentrism, which can manifest in various forms of prejudice such as racism, sexism, ageism, or heterosexism. These negative attitudes and stereotypes can lead to forms of social exclusion, avoiding certain groups, and unfairly biased treatment against those who are deemed different.
An insidious consequence of stigmatization is when it leads to the labeling of individuals with disabilities. For instance, instead of recognizing the full identity of a person, society might only see "the blind girl" or "the boy in the wheelchair," highlighting how discrimination can overshadow an individual's humanity.
Sociologists, like Louis Wirth, describe a minority group as any collection of individuals who are singled out for differential and unequal treatment due to physical or cultural characteristics and are conscious of being targeted by discrimination.