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In Goffman's theory of social stigma, a stigma is an attribute, behavior, or reputation which is socially discrediting in a particular way: it causes an individual to be mentally classified by others in an undesirable, rejected stereotype rather than in an accepted, normal one.
Goffman's book Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (1963) examines how, to protect their identities when they depart from approved standards of behavior or appearance, people manage impressions of themselves, mainly through concealment.
Goffman's other major works include Asylums (1961), Stigma (1963), Interaction Ritual (1967), Frame Analysis (1974), and Forms of Talk (1981). His major areas of study included the sociology of everyday life , social interaction , the social construction of self, social organization ( framing ) of experience, and particular elements of social ...
Stigma management is the process of concealing or disclosing aspects of one's identity to minimize social stigma. [1] When a person receives unfair treatment or alienation due to a social stigma, the effects can be detrimental. Social stigmas are defined as any aspect of an individual's identity that is devalued in a social context. [2]
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 ...
Following the theory of Goffman for nonperson treatment as a technique of diminishing the social status of a person, Roscoe Scarborough applies it to inequal treatment of contingent faculty in American higher education [7] and Jon Frederickson and James F. Rooney do the same for free-lance musicians. [8]
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]
[1] [2] The theory was prominent during the 1960s and 1970s, and some modified versions of the theory have developed and are still currently popular. Stigma is defined as a powerfully negative label that changes a person's self-concept and social identity. [3] Labeling theory is closely related to social-construction and symbolic-interaction ...