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Stigma pertains to the shame a person may feel when he or she fails to meet other people's standards, and to the fear of being discredited. This shame and fear causes the person not to reveal his or her differences or perceived shortcomings.
The first essay, "On Face-work", discusses the concept of face, which is the positive self-image a person holds when interacting with others. Goffman believes that face "as a sociological construct of interaction is neither inherent in nor a permanent aspect of the person". [ 6 ]
Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born American sociologist, social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century".
Based on his participant observation field work (he was employed as a physical therapist's assistant under a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health at a mental institution in Washington, D.C.), Goffman details his theory of the "total institution" (principally in the example he gives, as the title of the book indicates, mental institutions) and the process by which it takes efforts ...
However, how visible their stigma is may also determine the intensity and frequency of adversity they may face from others as a result of their stigma. Goffman explains, "Traditionally, the question of passing has raised the issue of the "visibility" of a particular stigma, that is, how well or how badly-the stigma is adapted to provide means ...
In 1961, Goffman received the American Sociological Association's MacIver award for The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. [3] Philosopher Helmut R. Wagner called the book "by far" Goffman's best book and "a still unsurpassed study of the management of impressions in face-to-face encounters, a form of not uncommon manipulation." [2]
Mental illnesses have come out of the shadows of the public discourse, but stigma still exists. Failures of the national health infrastructure also influence aversion to psychological services.
One of its major premises is that face-to-face interactions embody certain rules that follow a certain logic regardless of the occasions in which they occur. [2] Many of the examples in the book are drawn from or contrasted with Erving's earlier experiences as a visiting member of the National Institute of Mental Health in the 1950s. [1]