Difference between categorizing and labelling

Believe it or not they aren't the same thing. People often get these two confused because they seem so similar, because in both cases, you are often bunching people into something. But one is unnatural and is learned, while the other is naturally and comes instinctively.

Labeling
Labeling is a learned action, in which we follow stereotypes to make judgments and assumptions about people. You see a blond beauty you will often automatically assume she is stuck up because of how movies portray blonde beauties, or you will assume she is stupid. You see a black woman get angry, you will label her as an "angry black woman" stereotype. Labeling is learned because we have to learn these stereotypes in the first place. We are brought up to make false judgments about one another. What makes labeling wrong is that you discredit and prevent yourself from getting to know someone because you judge them before even knowing them. You classify someone as something they may not be, all because you live by stereotypes.

Categorizing
Categorizing is a natural phenomenon. Categorizing people does not hinge on stereotypes, it is based off of already knowing the person. You are not necessarily making assumptions about them. I say "not necessarily" because sometimes we do make assumptions about the people in our lives, but usually those pertain to more personal things rather than stereotypes. When we categorize, its more or less an organizing system. We naturally all do it, in different ways of course. The most simplest form of categorizing can be how you trust some people with a secret, but you don't trust others. Mentally, there are people in your life, that you don't consider good friends, but associates (acquaintances) instead. We all categorize otherwise, you would be treating everyone the exact same way, and the fact that not a single soul treats every single person the exact same way shows they categorize people and how they will treat them as a result.