This document summarizes key concepts from Erving Goffman's book Stigma. It discusses how Goffman defines stigma and the relationship between stigma and a person's social, personal, and ego identity. It also covers his concepts of discredited versus discreditable stigma, stigma management through passing and covering, the roles of in-group and out-group alignment, and deviations from social norms. The summary examines how stigma influences interactions and a person's psychological well-being. It poses discussion questions about applying Goffman's framework to understanding stigma in modern society.

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Erving Goffman's
Stigma
Student Presentations
SOC260 Deviance //
Occidental College
Chapter 1
Stigmata Stigmata
Stigmata: Bodily Signs Virtual v Actual Identity
Stigmata Stigmata
Physical
Character The "Normals"
Tribal
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Stigmata Stigmata
... and the Stigmatized Mixed Contacts
Stigma
Attribute that is deeply discrediting
Special relationship between attribute and
stereotype
STIGMA
Chapter 2
GROUP: Beyonce on a Leash
Social Information
The Discredited and the Social information: characteristics conveyed by
Discreditable a person, through bodily expression,
may confirm what other signs tell
Discredited: obvious discrepancy between individual’s us about the individual.
actual social identity and virtual one is.Ex: Amputee Symbols: signs that convey social information.Ex: club
Discreditable: differentness not immediately membership buttons.
apparent.Ex: Ex-Convict, sexuality Status symbol: establishes claim to desirable class
position, honor.Ex: Owning a Ferrari
Stigma symbol: draw attention to a debasing identity
discrepancy, leads to reduction of individual’s value.
Ex: an educated middle class person repeatedly
mispronouncing a word.
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Social Information
Disidentifiers: breaks up a positive coherent Visibility
presentation of person.Ex: eloquent speech of a prison inmate.
Possible for signs to mean different things to different How stigma is adapted to show, or not show, that the individual
groups. possesses it.
Ex: tattoos; “cool” for youth, parents may think otherwise. Ex: ex-mental patients do not have visible stigma; the blind are easily
visible.Three notions that are often confused with concept of
Venous stigmata: can create unjustified suspicions. visibility:
Ex: distended capillaries on cheek and nose, can indicate
1. must be distinguished from its “known-about-ness”
alcoholism BUT those who do not drink can exhibit these for
other physiological reasons. 2. must be distinguished from obtrusiveness; how much does stigma
interfere with fluidity of interaction?
Social identify of who an individual is “with” can inform
3. visibility of stigma (as well as obtrusiveness) must be disentangled
others’ opinion of his social identity.
from certain possibilities of “perceived focus”
Ex: If a person spends time with “jocks,” they may be seen as an
Ex: ugliness (stigma focused on social situations) vs. diabetes (no
athlete as well. initial effect on face-to-face interaction qualifications).
Personal Identity Personal Identity
Uniqueness: each member in a small,
Stigma management does not simply pertain to interactions
long-standing social circle has unique/defining characteristics.
with strangers, or public life.
Breaking through: individual with stigma attempts to reach personal level where Individual can be differentiated from all others,
stigma is not a crucial factor, hopefully develop normalization contact with single continuous record of social facts can be attached.
normals.Ex: my sister’s visible physical disability becomes normalized to her
classmates as the school year progresses. Personal identity Aspects:
Familiarity may not reduce contempt. 1. Positive marks/identity pegs.
Ex: white people living in the presence of people of color may maintain their racial
prejudices. 2. Unique combination of life history attempts that are attached to
individual
Historical and societal expectations and standardizations come into play.
Individual’s intimates may also be “put off” by stigma. Can also acquire a personal identity not their “own.”
Ex: homosexuals concealing their sexuality from their families. Ex: scarring fingertips, re-naming
Some stigmas only effect intimates because it can hide from strangers and
Name is common, but not reliable, way of fixing identity.
acquaintances.
Ex: having an STD is not apparent to the public, but one’s sexual partner has to Documentation: allow no error or ambiguity, safeguard against potential
misrepresentation of social identity.
know.
Chapter 2
Discussion Questions Information Control and Personal Identity -
• How do you believe the notions of “discredited” and "Passing": (pp. 73-91)
“discreditable” have changed with the increasingly
popularity of the internet and online communities?
• Do you think it would be easier to live with a
“discredited” or “discreditable” stigma?
Group: Oprah Winfrey Does Porn
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Double Life Secret Alcoholism
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/health/your_health&id=8547183
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qLe9OKCxTQ
Discussion
-What types of deviance are most relevant to
Chapter 2: Information Control &
Goffman’s ideas on “passing”? For what Personal Identity
types of deviance is “passing” as normal not (pp. 95-104)
an option?
-Do you think "passing" is something we all do
to some extent?
The Screaming O’s
(Group 3)
Information Control
• Conceal stigma markers
Informational Control &
• http://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-and-beauty/
Covering how-to-hide-a-tattoo.aspx
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Information Control Information Control
• Disidentifiers • Passing on associated services
Information Control Information Control
• Presenting stigma identifiers as less • Division of social contacts
discredited stigma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LOzMtI6RCM
Information Control Information Control
• Keeping distance and control of • Voluntary disclosure
contact with stigmatized group
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiZ75B3uFxM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ27LeAZOus
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Covering
Covering • Concern over stigma markers
• Reducing effect of one’s stigma [same as informational control]
• Covering uses many of the same tactics
as informational control
Covering Covering
• Hiding and overcoming typical failings • Formation of social institutions
associated with the stigma
Discuss...
Why cover, as opposed to pass? Stigma:
Can you think of instances when a stigmatized Chapter 3
individual feels above passing because he/ Group Alignment &
she feels their self-acceptance & self-
respect negate the need to conceal their Ego Identity
failing?
By: The San Fernando Valley
All-Stars
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Identity: Social, Personal, & Ego Ambivalence
• Social and personal • Those stigmatized feel • Concern with in-group
identity are made up by a tendency to stratify purification: efforts of
other people's concerns their "own" according to stigmatized people to
and definitions the degree to which not only "normify" their
their stigma is apparent own conduct, but that
• Personal identity can • More identity of others in the group
begin to be constructed ambivalence when own too.
before an individual is kind is behaving in a • Nearing: When an
born and even after that stereotyped way individual comes close
to an undesirable
person is buried instance of his own
• Ego identity must be felt kind while with a
by the individual whose normal
identity is at question
Professional Presentations Minstrelization
- There exists a self-contradiction of individuals who - Deviants are warned against
think they aren't any different from everyone else, minstrelization, "acting out before normals,
while they and others realize that they are somehow
the full dance of bad qualities"
different.
- Deviants are warned against passing completely, but
also warned against fully accepting their own
negative attitudes toward them.
http://youtu.be/nBmNcy4zZNU
Normification/De-minstrelizaton 2 Implications of these "codes"
- Deviants are also warned against normification/ 1. It can cause those who are deviant to
deminstrelization, "acting overly normal in from of
become overly conscious of social
normals, so that they are perceived as nice people,
despite their deviance" situations, so they are observers, not
participants.
2. This type of advice deals candidly with
very private matters, as acts of deviance
tend to be personal.
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In-Group Alignments In-Group Alignment Example
• The spokesman for the group of like-minded individuals says that this
•
is the individuals only “true” group
This group is comprised of individuals who have experienced the same
• type of stigma
If the individual turns to his group he is characterized as loyal and
•
•
authentic
If the individual turns away from the group he is a fool and a traitor
One consequence of having an in-group standpoint is the rise of
• militant ideology
The militant individual will give praise to his groups special and often
stereotypical attributes while favoring a secessionist ideology from the
normals
Out-Group Alignment Out-Group Alignment Cont…
•Stigmatized individuals vs. the “normal” •Focus on a balance of downplaying one’s stigma,
population while giving it enough validity so normal people
don’t feel uncomfortable about it
–Stigmatized individual should see himself as
•Good Adjustment – Requires that the stigmatized
a complete human being, with the ability to
individual cheerfully and unselfconsciously
fulfill “ordinary standards”
accept himself as essentially the same as
•The stigmatized individual should not feel normals, while at the same time he voluntarily
resentful towards themselves or the withholds himself from those situations in
normal population which normals would find it difficult to give lip
service to their similar acceptance of him.” -
121
The Politics of Identity Discussion Questions
• As a result of the misalignment between • What is the difference between "In-Group"
the in-group and the out-group the and "Out-Group" Alignment?
stigmatized views himself as "different" • What do you think are some good
even when he is a member of the wider examples of "Good Adjustment?"
group.
• This leads to a state of semi-acceptance
within the social group which adds
confusion to one's ego identity.
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Deviations and Norms
Stigma by Erving Goffman • Stigmatized vs. normal: everyone is at once
stigmatized and normal from different/various
perspectives (ex: Miley Cyrus smoking legal drug
Chapter 4: The Self and Its Other salvia, friends find it normal, stigmatized by public)
• Failure/Success of achieving/maintaining norms of
XOXO, JAVIER SLAMM AND THE PEENYWHACKERS identity has a huge impact on individuals'
psychological well-being (ex:person has physical
disorder out of their control...can make them
depressed, they cannot control it so they feel
helpless)
Deviations and Norms Deviations and Norms
• Identity norms breed both deviations and conformity • Cooperation between deviants and normals: normals
(ex: appropriate party attire…most people dress up a ignore, respect, or pass over deviant behaviors/traits,
little or a lot -conformists- but some wear sloppy or and deviants don't push the boundaries of
revealing clothes and are stigmatized -deviants-) acceptance from normals (most people do anything
• Focus on ordinary deviations from the common, not to avoid awkward situations)
uncommon deviations from the ordinary • Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2JBjEtNSSc
Deviations and Norms The Normal Deviant
• Impression management: individual controls image • Stigma management occurs wherever there are
that he/she portrays to others or wants others to see identity norms.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlOoCwZQvMg • Even when an individual is deviant, he or she often
has normal concerns about it.
• Also "passing" and "covering" • Individual employs normal strategies in attempting
to conceal it.
• e.g. Someone likes to sleep naked, doesn't tell
friends, wears pj's during sleepovers
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The Normal Deviant Stigma and Reality
• Deviant leaders act respective to their environments. • Stigmatized and normal are a part of each other…
• e.g. Performance. they aren’t people, they are perspectives generated in
social situations
• The stigmatized can:
• Pass for fun
• Play games
• Give brief responses
• A cold stare
• Every individual participates in both roles (normal
and stigmatized)
Stigma and Reality Discussion Question
• Different types of stigma have different functions • What is more important to focus on, the norms
• Stigmatization of those with bad moral record serves as a themselves or the deviations from those norms?
means of formal social control
• Stigmatization of certain racial, religious and ethnic groups
functions as a means of removing these minorities from
various avenues of competition
Chapter 5 and Conclusion Uses of Goffman’s Work
Deviations Stigma paved way for studies on:
Deviants 1. Groups of stigmatized populations
2. Groups categorized by symbols of stigma
3. “Minor” bodily stigmas
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Reactions / Criticisms Discussion Questions
“So inclusive as to be uninformative” • How do you believe the notions of
(Cahill & Eggleston, 1995) “discredited” and “discreditable” have
changed with the increasingly popularity of
the internet and online communities?
• Do you think it would be easier to live with
a “discredited” or “discreditable” stigma?
• Why cover, as opposed to pass?
Discussion Questions Discussion Questions
• Can you think of instances when a • What is more important to focus on, the
stigmatized individual feels above passing norms themselves or the deviations from
because he/she feels their self- those norms?
acceptance & self-respect negate the
• Must individuals always manage their
need to conceal their failing?
stigma?
• What is the difference between "In-Group"
• What about stigmas that are “minor” or
and "Out-Group" Alignment?
only known or imagined to individual?
• What do you think are some good
examples of "Good Adjustment?”
Discussion Questions Thank You!
• Rather focus on stigmatized individuals, • Student Presentations
should we address “normals” in order to
• Spring 2012
reduce stigma?
• SOC260 Deviance
• How can we challenge institutionalization
and criminalization of stigmatized • Occidental College
identities and experiences? • Professor Danielle Dirks
• http://deviance.iheartsociology.com
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