Social stigma

Social stigma is the extreme disapproval of (or discontent with) a person or group on socially characteristic
grounds that are perceived, and serve to distinguish them,
from other members of a society. Stigma may then be afxed to such a person, by the greater society, who diers
from their cultural norms.

in their own family. For example, the parents of overweight women are less likely to pay for their daughters
college education than are the parents of average-weight
women.[7]
Stigma may also be described as a label that associates
a person to a set of unwanted characteristics that form a
stereotype. It is also axed.[8] Once people identify and
label your dierences others will assume that is just how
things are and the person will remain stigmatized until
the stigmatizing attribute is undetected. A considerable
amount of generalization is required to create groups,
meaning that you put someone in a general group regardless of how well they actually t into that group. However, the attributes that society selects dier according to
time and place. What is considered out of place in one
society could be the norm in another. When society categorizes individuals into certain groups the labeled person
is subjected to status loss and discrimination.[8] Society
will start to form expectations about those groups once
the cultural stereotype is secured.

Social stigma can result from the perception of mental

illness, physical disabilities, diseases such as leprosy (see
leprosy stigma),[1] illegitimacy, sexual orientation, gender
identity,[2] skin tone, education, nationality, ethnicity,
ideology, religion (or lack of religion[3][4] ) or criminality.
Attributes associated with social stigma often vary depending on the geopolitical and corresponding sociopolitical contexts employed by society, in dierent parts of
the world.
According to Goman there are three forms of social
stigma:[5]

1. Overt or external deformations, such as scars, physical manifestations of anorexia nervosa, leprosy
Stigma may aect the behavior of those who are stigma(leprosy stigma), or of a physical disability or social
tized. Those who are stereotyped often start to act in ways
disability, such as obesity.
that their stigmatizers expect of them. It not only changes
their behavior, but it also shapes their emotions and
2. Deviations in personal traits, including mental illbeliefs.[7] Members of stigmatized social groups often
ness, drug addiction, alcoholism, and criminal backface prejudice that causes depression (i.e. deprejudice).[9]
ground are stigmatized in this way.
These stigmas put a persons social identity in threatening
3. Tribal stigmas are traits, imagined or real, of situations, like low self-esteem. Because of this, identity
ethnic group, nationality, or of religion that is theories have become highly researched. Identity threat
deemed to be a deviation from the prevailing nor- theories can go hand-in-hand with labeling theory.
mative ethnicity, nationality or religion.

Members of stigmatized groups start to become aware

that they aren't being treated the same way and know
they are probably being discriminated against. Studies
have shown that by 10 years of age, most children are
1 Description
aware of cultural stereotypes of dierent groups in society, and children who are members of stigmatized groups
Stigma is a Greek word that in its origins referred to a type are aware of cultural types at an even younger age.[7]
of marking or tattoo that was cut or burned into the skin
of criminals, slaves, or traitors in order to visibly identify
them as blemished or morally polluted persons. These
2 Main theories and contributions
individuals were to be avoided or shunned, particularly in
public places.[6]

2.1 mile Durkheim

Social stigmas can occur in many dierent forms. The

most common deals with culture, obesity, gender, race
and diseases. Many people who have been stigmatized
feel as though they are transforming from a whole person
to a tainted one. They feel dierent and devalued by others. This can happen in the workplace, educational settings, health care, the criminal justice system, and even

French sociologist mile Durkheim was the rst to explore stigma as a social phenomenon in 1895. He wrote:
Imagine a society of saints, a perfect cloister of exemplary
individuals. Crimes or deviance, properly so-called, will
there be unknown; but faults, which appear venial to the
1

2 MAIN THEORIES AND CONTRIBUTIONS

layman, will there create the same scandal that the ordinary oense does in ordinary consciousnesses. If then,
this society has the power to judge and punish, it will dene these acts as criminal (or deviant) and will treat them
as such.[10]

2.2

stranger comes into our presence, then, rst appearances are likely to enable us to anticipate
his category and attributes, his social identity
[...] We lean on these anticipations that we
have, transforming them into normative expectations, into righteously presented demands.
[...] It is [when an active question arises as to
whether these demands will be lled] that we
are likely to realize that all along we had been
making certain assumptions as to what the individual before us ought to be. [These assumed
demands and the character we impute to the
individual will be called] virtual social identity.
The category and attributes he could in fact be
proved to possess will be called his actual social identity. (Goman 1963:2).
While a stranger is present before us, evidence can arise of his possessing an attribute
that makes him dierent from others in the category of persons available for him to be, and of
a less desirable kind--in the extreme, a person
who is quite thoroughly bad, or dangerous, or
weak. He is thus reduced in our minds from a
whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted
one. Such an attribute is a stigma, especially
when its discrediting eect is very extensive
[...] It constitutes a special discrepancy between virtual and actual social identity. Note
that there are other types of [such] discrepancy
[...] for example the kind that causes us to reclassify an individual from one socially anticipated category to a dierent but equally wellanticipated one, and the kind that causes us to
alter our estimation of the individual upward.
(Goman 1963:3).

Erving Goman

Erving Goman was one of the most inuential sociologists of the twentieth century. He dened stigma as:[5]
The phenomenon whereby an individual with an attribute
which is deeply discredited by his/her society is rejected as
a result of the attribute. Stigma is a process by which the
reaction of others spoils normal identity.

2.3

Gerhard Falk

German born sociologist and historian Gerhard Falk

wrote:[11]
All societies will always stigmatize some conditions and
some behaviors because doing so provides for group solidarity by delineating outsiders from insiders.
Falk[12] describes stigma based on two categories, existential stigma and achieved stigma. Falk denes existential
stigma as stigma deriving from a condition which the target of the stigma either did not cause or over which he has
little control. He denes Achieved Stigma as stigma that
is earned because of conduct and/or because they contributed heavily to attaining the stigma in question.[11]

Falk concludes that we and all societies will always stigmatize some condition and some behavior because doing
so provides for group solidarity by delineating 'outsiders
from 'insiders".[11] Stigmatization, at its essence is a challenge to ones humanity- for both the stigmatized person 2.4.1 The stigmatized, the normal, and the wise
and the stigmatizer. The majority of stigma researchers
have found the process of stigmatization has a long his- Goman divides the individuals relation to a stigma into
three categories:
tory and is cross-culturally ubiquitous.[13]
1. the stigmatized are those who bear the stigma;

2.4

Gomans theory

In Erving Goman'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 classied by others in an undesirable, rejected
stereotype rather than in an accepted, normal one. Goman, a noted sociologist, dened stigma as a special kind
of gap between virtual social identity and actual social
identity:
Society establishes the means of categorizing persons and the complement of attributes
felt to be ordinary and natural for members
of each of these categories. [...] When a

2. the normals are those who do not bear the stigma;

and
3. the wise are those among the normals who are accepted by the stigmatized as wise to their condition (borrowing the term from the homosexual community).
4.
The wise normals are not merely those who are in some
sense accepting of the stigma; they are, rather, those
whose special situation has made them intimately privy
to the secret life of the stigmatized individual and sympathetic with it, and who nd themselves accorded a measure of acceptance, a measure of courtesy membership

2.5

Link and Phelan stigmatization model

in the clan. That is, they are accepted by the stigmatized

as honorary members of the stigmatized group. Wise
persons are the marginal men before whom the individual with a fault need feel no shame nor exert self-control,
knowing that in spite of his failing he will be seen as an ordinary other. Goman notes that the wise may in certain
social situations also bear the stigma with respect to other
normals: that is, they may also be stigmatized for being
wise. An example is a parent of a homosexual; another is
a white woman who is seen socializing with a black man.
(Limiting ourselves, of course, to social milieus in which
homosexuals and blacks are stigmatized).

3
There are also positive stigma": you may indeed be too
thin, too rich, or too smart. This is noted by Goman
(1963:141) in his discussion of leaders, who are subsequently given license to deviate from some behavioral
norms, because they have contributed far above the expectations of the group.

The stigmatizer From the perspective of the stigmatizer, stigmatization involves dehumanization, threat,
aversion and sometimes the depersonalization of others into stereotypic caricatures. Stigmatizing others can
serve several functions for an individual, including selfesteem enhancement, control enhancement, and anxiety
buering, through downward-comparisoncomparing
oneself to less fortunate others can increase ones own
subjective sense of well-being and therefore boost ones
self-esteem.[13]

Until recently, this typology has been used without being

empirically tested. A recent study[14] showed empirical
support for the existence of the own, the wise, and normals as separate groups; but, the wise appeared in two
forms: active wise and passive wise. Active wise encouraged challenging stigmatization and educating stigmatizers, but passive wise did not.
21st century social psychologists consider stigmatizing
and stereotyping to be a normal consequence of peoples
cognitive abilities and limitations, and of the social information and experiences to which they are exposed.[13]
2.4.2 Ethical considerations
Goman emphasizes that the stigma relationship is one
Current views of stigma, from the perspecbetween an individual and a social setting with a given
tives of both the stigmatizer and the stigmaset of expectations; thus, everyone at dierent times will
tized person, consider the process of stigma to
play both roles of stigmatized and stigmatizer (or, as he
be highly situationally specic, dynamic, computs it, normal). Goman gives the example that some
plex and nonpathological.[13]
jobs in America cause holders without the expected college education to conceal this fact; other jobs, however,
can lead to the few of their holders who have a higher
education to keep this a secret, lest they be marked as 2.5 Link and Phelan stigmatization model
failures and outsiders. Similarly, a middle class boy may
feel no compunction in being seen going to the library; Bruce Link and Jo Phelan propose that stigma exists when
[16]
a professional criminal, however, writes [about keeping four specic components converge:
his library visits secret]. He also gives the example of
blacks being stigmatized among whites, and whites being
1. Individuals dierentiate and label human variations.
stigmatized among blacks (note that this work was written
during racial segregation).
2. Prevailing cultural beliefs tie those labeled to adverse attributes.
Individuals actively cope with stigma in ways that vary
across stigmatized groups, across individuals within stig3. Labeled individuals are placed in distinguished
matized groups, and within individuals across time and
[15]
groups that serve to establish a sense of disconnecsituations.
tion between us and them.
The stigmatized The stigmatized are ostracized,
devalued, rejected, scorned and shunned. They experience discrimination, insults, attacks and are even murdered. Those who perceive themselves to be members of
a stigmatized group, whether it is obvious to those around
them or not, often experience psychological distress and
many view themselves contemptuously.[13]
Although the experience of being stigmatized may take a
toll on self-esteem, academic achievement, and other outcomes, many people with stigmatized attributes have high
self-esteem, perform at high levels, are happy and appear
to be quite resilient to their negative experiences.[13]

4. Labeled individuals experience status loss and

discrimination" that leads to unequal circumstances.
In this model stigmatization is also contingent on access
to social, economic, and political power that allows the
identication of dierences, construction of stereotypes,
the separation of labeled persons into distinct groups,
and the full execution of disapproval, rejection, exclusion, and discrimination. Subsequently, in this model the
term stigma is applied when labeling, stereotyping, disconnection, status loss, and discrimination all exist within
a power situation that facilitates stigma to occur.

4
2.5.1

2 MAIN THEORIES AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Dierentiation and labeling

Identifying which human dierences are salient, and

therefore worthy of labeling, is a social process. There
are two primary factors to examine when considering the
extent to which this process is a social one. The rst
issue is that signicant oversimplication is needed to
create groups. The broad groups of black and white,
homosexual and heterosexual, the sane and the mentally
ill; and young and old are all examples of this. Secondly,
the dierences that are socially judged to be relevant differ vastly according to time and place. An example of this
is the emphasis that was put on the size of forehead and
faces of individuals in the late 19th centurywhich was
believed to be a measure of a persons criminal nature.

2.5.2

Linking to stereotypes

The second component of this model centers on the linking of labeled dierences with stereotypes. Gomans
1963 work made this aspect of stigma prominent and it
has remained so ever since. This process of applying certain stereotypes to dierentiated groups of individuals
has attracted a large amount of attention and research in
recent decades.

2.5.3

Us and them

Thirdly, linking negative attributes to groups facilitates

separation into us and them. Seeing the labeled group
as fundamentally dierent causes stereotyping with little hesitation. Us and them implies that the labeled
group is slightly less human in nature, and at the extreme
not human at all. At this extreme, the most horric events
occur.

2.5.5 Necessity of power

The authors also emphasize the role of power (social,
economic, and political power) in stigmatization. While
the use of power is clear in some situations, in others it can
become masked as the power dierences are less stark.
An extreme example of a situation in which the power
role was explicitly clear was the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis. On the other hand, an example of
a situation in which individuals of a stigmatized group
have stigma-related processes occurring would be the
inmates of a prison. It is imaginable that each of the
steps described above would occur regarding the inmates
thoughts about the guards. However, this situation cannot
involve true stigmatization, according to this model, because the prisoners do not have the economic, political,
or social power to act on these thoughts with any serious
discriminatory consequences.

2.6 'Stigma Allure' and authenticity

Sociologist Matthew W. Hughey explains that prior research on stigma has emphasized individual and group
attempts to reduce stigma by 'passing as normal', by shunning the stigmatized, or through selective disclosure of
stigmatized attributes. Yet, some actors may embrace
particular markings of stigma (e.g.: social markings like
dishonor or select physical dysfunctions and abnormalities) as signs of moral commitment and/or cultural and
political authenticity. Hence, Hughey argues that some
actors do not simply desire to 'pass into normal' but may
actively pursue a stigmatized identity formation process
in order to experience themselves as causal agents in
their social environment. Hughey calls this phenomenon
'stigma allure'.[18]

2.7 The Six Dimensions of Stigma

2.5.4

Disadvantage

The fourth component of stigmatization in this model includes status loss and discrimination". Many denitions
of stigma do not include this aspect, however these authors believe that this loss occurs inherently as individuals
are labeled, set apart, and linked to undesirable characteristics. The members of the labeled groups are subsequently disadvantaged in the most common group of life
chances including income, education, mental well-being,
housing status, health, and medical treatment. Thus,
stigmatization by the majorities, the powerful, or the superior leads to the Othering of the minorities, the powerless, and the inferior. Where by the stigmatized individuals become disadvantaged due to the ideology created by the self, which is the opposing force to the
Other. As a result, the others become socially excluded
and those in power reason the exclusion based on the original characteristics that led to the stigma.[17]

While often incorrectly attributed to Goman the Six

Dimensions of Stigma were not his invention. They
were developed to augment Gomans two levels - the
discredited and the discreditable. Goman considered
individuals whose stigmatizing attributes are not immediately evident. In that case, the individual can encounter
two distinct social atmospheres. In the rst, he is discreditablehis stigma has yet to be revealed, but may
be revealed either intentionally by him (in which case he
will have some control over how) or by some factor he
cannot control. Of course, it also might be successfully
concealed; Goman called this passing. In this situation,
the analysis of stigma is concerned only with the behaviors adopted by the stigmatized individual to manage his
identity: the concealing and revealing of information. In
the second atmosphere, he is discreditedhis stigma has
been revealed and thus it aects not only his behavior but
the behavior of others. Jones et al. (1984) added the six

2.9

Stigma communication

dimensions and correlate them to Gomans two types manage their Spoiled identity (meaning the stigma disof stigma, discredited and discreditable.
qualies the stigmatized individual from full social acThere are six dimensions that match these two types of ceptance) before audiences of normals. He focused on
stigma, not as a xed or inherent attribute of a person, but
stigma:[19]
rather as the experience and meaning of dierence.[21]
1. Concealable - extent to which others can see the Gerhard Falk expounds upon Gomans work by redening deviant as others who deviate from the expectations
stigma
of a group and by categorizing deviance into two types:
2. Course of the mark - whether the stigmas prominence increases, decreases, or remains consistent
Societal deviance refers to a condition widely perover time
ceived, in advance and in general, as being deviant
and hence stigma and stigmatized. Homosexuality
3. Disruptiveness - the degree to which the stigma
is therefore an example of societal deviance because
and/or others reaction to it impede social interacthere is such a high degree of consensus to the eftions
fect that homosexuality is dierent, and a violation
of norms or social expectation.[11]
4. Aesthetics - the subset of others reactions to
the stigma comprising reactions that are posi Situational deviance refers to a deviant act that is
tive/approving or negative/disapproving but reprelabeled as deviant in a specic situation, and may not
sent estimations of qualities other than the stigmabe labeled deviant by society. Similarly, a socially
tized persons inherent worth or dignity
deviant action might not be considered deviant in
5. Origin - whether others think the stigma is present
at birth, accidental, or deliberate
6. Peril - the danger that others perceive (whether accurately or inaccurately) the stigma to pose to them

2.8

Types

In Unraveling the contexts of stigma, authors Campbell

and Deacon describe Gomans universal and historical
forms of Stigma as the following.
Overt or external deformities - such as leprosy,
2.9
clubfoot, cleft lip or palate and muscular dystrophy.

specic situations. A robber or other street criminal is an excellent example. It is the crime which
leads to the stigma and stigmatization of the person
so aected.
The physically disabled, mentally ill, homosexuals, and a host of others who are labeled
deviant because they deviate from the expectations of a group, are subject to stigmatizationthe social rejection of numerous individuals,
and often entire groups of people who have
been labeled deviant.

Stigma communication

Communication is involved in creating, maintaining,

and diusing stigmas, and enacting stigmatization.[22]
The model of stigma communication explains how and
why particular content choices (marks, labels, peril, and
responsibility) can create stigmas and encourage their
diusion.[23] A recent experiment using health alerts
tested the model of stigma communication, nding that
content choices indeed predicted stigma beliefs, inten Tribal stigma - aliation with a specic nationality, tions to further diuse these messages, and agreement
religion, or race that constitute a deviation from the with regulating infected persons behaviors.[22][24]
normative, i.e. being African American, or being
of Arab descent in the United States after the 9/11
2.10 Challenging
attacks.[20]
Known deviations in personal traits - being perceived rightly or wrongly, as weak willed, domineering or having unnatural passions, treacherous or
rigid beliefs, and being dishonest, e.g., mental disorders, imprisonment, addiction, homosexuality, unemployment, suicidal attempts and radical political
behavior.

Stigma, though powerful and enduring, is not inevitable,

and can be challenged. There are two important aspects
to challenging stigma: challenging the stigmatisation on
Stigma occurs when an individual is identied as deviant, the part of stigmatizers, and challenging the internallinked with negative stereotypes that engender prejudiced ized stigma of the stigmatized. To challenge stigmatiattitudes, which are acted upon in discriminatory be- zation, Campbell et al. 2005[25] summarise three main
havior. Goman illuminated how stigmatized people approaches.
2.8.1

Deviance

CURRENT RESEARCH

1. There are eorts to educate individuals about the have lower levels of collective self-esteem on an imnon-stigmatising facts and why they should not stig- plicit measure but have equivalent levels of personal selfmatise.
esteem on both implicit and explicit measures.
2. There are eorts to legislate against discrimination.
3. There are eorts to mobilize the participation of
community members in anti-stigma eorts, to maximize the likelihood that the anti-stigma messages
have relevance and eectiveness, according to local
contexts.
4.
In relation to challenging the internalized stigma of the
stigmatized, Paulo Freires theory of critical consciousness is particularly suitable. Cornish provides an example of how sex workers in Sonagachi, a red light district
in India, have eectively challenged internalized stigma
by establishing that they are respectable women, who admirably take care of their families, and who deserve rights
like any other worker.[26] This study argues that it is not
only the force of rational argument that makes the challenge to the stigma successful, but concrete evidence that
sex workers can achieve valued aims, and are respected
by others.

The US Department of Health, Education and Welfare

determined that including the 24% of women who are
actually obese, 60% of adolescent women believe they are
overweight. Recent studies have shown that women who
are unattractive or obese do not believe they will make a
good impression on the men they come into contact with,
which makes the men feel the women are uncomfortable
and uninterested in them. The women of average weight
felt better about the impression they would make on the
men, and in return the men felt the women were interested
in them and enjoyed their company.
This test showed how obese or overweight women have
low self-esteem. Obese women and overweight women
feel uncomfortable, and aren't very social, which makes
the people they come into contact with uninterested and
uncomfortable. The more overweight the woman is, the
lower her self-esteem tends to be.

3.2 People with mental disorders

Further information: Mental disorder Stigma

Current research

Research undertaken to determine eects of social stigma

primarily focuses on disease-associated stigmas. Disabilities, psychiatric disorders, and sexually transmitted diseases are among the diseases currently scrutinized by researchers. In studies involving such diseases, both positive and negative eects of social stigma have been discovered..

3.1

Research on self-esteem

Main article: Self-esteem

Members of stigmatized groups may have lower selfesteem than those of nonstigmatized groups. A test could
not be taken on the overall self-esteem of dierent races.
Researchers would have to take into account whether
these people are optimistic or pessimistic, whether they
are male or female and what kind of place they grew up
in. Over the last two decades, many studies have reported
that African Americans show higher global self-esteem
than whites even though, as a group, African Americans
tend to receive poorer outcomes in many areas of life and
experience signicant discrimination and stigma.

Empirical research on stigma associated with mental disorders, pointed to a surprising attitude of the general public. Those who were told that mental disorders had a
genetic basis were more prone to increase their social
distance from the mentally ill, and also to assume that
the ill were dangerous individuals, in contrast with those
members of the general public who were told that the illnesses could be explained by social and environment factors. Furthermore, those informed of the genetic basis
were also more likely to stigmatize the entire family of the
ill.[27] Although the specic social categories that become
stigmatized can vary over time and place, the three basic
forms of stigma (physical deformity, poor personal traits,
and tribal outgroup status) are found in most cultures and
eras, leading some researchers to hypothesize that the tendency to stigmatize may have evolutionary roots.[28][29]
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy has been used effectively to help people to reduce shame associated with
cultural stigma around substance abuse treatment.[30]

3.3 Mental illness, Taiwan

In Taiwan, strengthening the psychiatric rehabilitation

system has been one of the primary goals of the Department of Health since 1985. Unfortunately, this enCorrelations between self-esteem and achievement tests: deavor has not been successful and it is believed that one
of the barriers is social stigma towards the mentally ill.[31]
Correlations between self-esteem and GPA:
Accordingly, a study was conducted to explore the atAverage weight women have higher self-esteem than titudes of the general population towards patients with
overweight women. Overweight women who are older mental disorders. A survey method was utilized on 1,203

3.6

Eects of education, culture

subjects nationally. The results revealed that the general population held high levels of benevolence, tolerance on rehabilitation in the community, and nonsocial
restrictiveness.[31] Essentially, benevolent attitudes were
favoring the acceptance of rehabilitation in the community. It could then be inferred that the belief (held by the
residents of Taiwan) in treating the mentally ill with high
regard, somewhat eliminated the stigma.[31]

3.4

Epilepsy, Hong Kong

7
others viewed non stereotypical images such as a woman
working in a law oce. These groups then responded
to statements about women in a neutral photograph. In
this photo a woman was shown in a casual outt not doing
any obvious task. The students that saw the stereotypical images tended to answer the questionnaires with more
stereotypical responses in 6 of the 12 questionnaire statements. This suggests that even brief exposure to stereotypical ads reinforces stereotypes.(Lafky, Duy, Steinmaus & Berkowitz, 1996)[35]

Epilepsy, a common neurological disorder characterised

by recurring seizures, is associated with various social
stigmas. Chung-yan Gardian Fong and Anchor Hung
conducted a study in Hong Kong which documented public attitudes towards individuals with epilepsy. Of the
1,128 subjects interviewed, only 72.5% of them considered epilepsy to be acceptable; 11.2% would not let their
children play with others with epilepsy; 32.2% would not
allow their children to marry persons with epilepsy; additionally, employers (22.5% of them) would terminate an
employment contract after an epileptic seizure occurred
in an employee with unreported epilepsy.[32] Suggestions
were made that more eort be made to improve public awareness of, attitude toward, and understanding of
epilepsy through school education and epilepsy-related
organizations.[32]

3.6 Eects of education, culture

Viewers seem to react to violence with emotions such

as anger and contempt. They are concerned for the integrity of the social order and show disapproval of others. Emotions such as sadness and fear are shown much
more rarely. (Unz, Schwab & Winterho-Spurk, 2008,
p. 141)[34]

Gifted children learn when it is safe to display their giftedness and when they should hide it to better t in with a
group. These observations led to the development of the
Information Management Model that describes the process by which children decide to employ coping strategies
to manage their identities. In situations where the child
feels dierent, she or he may decide to manage the information that others know about him or her. Coping strategies include: disidentication with giftedness, attempting
to maintain a low visibility, or creating a high-visibility

The aforementioned stigmas (associated with their respective diseases) propose eects that these stereotypes
have on individuals. Whether eects be negative or
positive in nature, 'labeling' people causes a signicant
change in individual perception (of persons with disease).
Perhaps a mutual understanding of stigma, achieved
through education, could eliminate social stigma entirely.

Laurence J. Coleman rst adapted Erving Goman's

(1963) social stigma theory to gifted children, providing a rationale for why children may hide their abilities
and present alternate identities to their peers.[36][37][38]
The stigma of giftedness theory was further elaborated
by Laurence J. Coleman and Tracy L. Cross in their book
entitled, Being Gifted In School, which is a widely cited
reference in the eld of gifted education.[39] In the chapter on Coping with Giftedness, the authors expanded on
3.5 In the media
the theory rst presented in an 1988 article.[40] AccordIn the early 21st century, technology has a large impact ing to Google Scholar, this article has been cited at least
on the lives of people in multiple countries and has be- 110 times in the academic literature.[41]
come a social norm. Many people own a television, com- Coleman and Cross were the rst to identify intellectual
puter, and a smart phone. The media can be helpful with giftedness as a stigmatizing condition and they created
keeping people up to date on news and world issues and a model based on Gomans (1963) work, research with
it is very inuential on people. Because it is so inuengifted students,[38] and a book that was written and edited
tial sometimes the portrayal of minority groups aects by 20 teenage, gifted individuals.[42] Being gifted sets stuattitudes of other groups toward them. Much media covdents apart from their peers and this dierence interferes
erage has to do with other parts of the world. A lot of with full social acceptance. Varying expectations that exthis coverage has to do with war and conict, which peoist in the dierent social contexts which children must
ple may relate to any person belonging from that coun- navigate, and the value judgments that may be assigned
try. There is a tendency to focus more in the positive beto the child result in the childs use of social coping stratehaviour of ones own group and the negative behaviours of gies to manage his or her identity. Unlike other stigmatizother groups. This promotes negative thoughts of people ing conditions, giftedness is a unique because it can lead
belonging to those other groups, reinforcing stereotypical to praise or ridicule depending on the audience and cirbeliefs.[33]
cumstances.

In a study testing the eects of stereotypical advertisements on students, 75 high school students viewed magazine advertisements with stereotypical female images
such as a woman working on a holiday dinner, while 50

5 NOTES

identity (playing a stereotypical role associated with giftedness). These ranges of strategies are called the Continuum of Visibility.

3.7

Stigmatising attitude of narcissists to

psychiatric illness

Arikan found that a stigmatising attitude to psychiatric

patients is associated with narcissistic personality
traits.[43]

5 Notes
[1] Jopling WH. Leprosy Stigma. Lepr Rev 62,1-12,1991
[2] Preamble of The Yogyakarta Principles and UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity
[3] globeandmail.com. Toronto.
[4] Atheists Attacked in Hate Crime?
[5] Erving Goman (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-67162244-7.
[6] Healthline Network Inc., 2007

See also
Social alienation
Guilt by association
Identity
Label (sociology)
Labelling
Labeling theory
Self-Schema
Self-esteem
Self-Concealment

[7] Brenda Major,

Laurie T. O'Brien (2005),
The
Social
Psychology
of
Stigma,
Annual Review of Psychology 56 (1):
393421,
doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070137
[8] Jacoby A, Snape D, Baker GA. (2005), Epilepsy and Social Identity: the Stigma of a Chronic Neurological Disorder, Lancet Neurology 4 (3): 1718, doi:10.1016/s14744422(05)70020-x, PMID 15721827
[9] Cox, William T. L.; Abramson, Lyn Y.; Devine, Patricia G.; Hollon, Steven D. (2012). Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Depression: The Integrated Perspective.
Perspectives on Psychological Science 7 (5): 42749.
doi:10.1177/1745691612455204.
[10] mile Durkheim (1982). Rules of Sociological Method
(1895) The Free Press
[11] Gerhard Falk (2001). STIGMA: How We Treat Outsiders,
Prometheus Books.
[12]

Stereotype
Social exclusion
Taboo
Passing (sociology)
Collateral consequences of criminal charges
Scapegoat
Stigma management
Weight stigma
Leprosy stigma
National Mental Health Anti-Stigma Campaign
Badge of shame
Stereotype threat
Stig-9 perceived mental illness stigma questionnaire

[13] Heatherton, T. F.; Kleck, R. E.; Hebl, M. R.; Hull, J. G.

(2000). The Social Psychology of Stigma. Guilford Press.
ISBN 1-57230-573-8.
[14] Smith, R. (2012). Segmenting an Audience into
the Own, the Wise, and Normals: A Latent Class
Analysis of Stigma-Related Categories.
Communication Research Reports (29 ed.):
25765.
doi:10.1080/08824096.2012.704599.
[15] Shana Levin, Colette van Laar (2004), Stigma and Group
Inequality: Social Psychological Perspectives, Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, ISBN 978-0805844153
[16] Link, Bruce G.; Phelan, Jo C. (2001), Conceptualizing Stigma, Annual Review of Sociology 27: 36385,
doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.363
[17] Frosh, Stephen. The Other. American Imago 59.4
(2002): 389-407. Print.
[18] Hughey, Matthew W. (2012) 'Stigma Allure and White
Antiracist Identity Management.' Social Psychology
Quarterly. p. 1-23.
[19] Jones E, Farina A, Hastorf A, Markus H, Miller D, Scott
R. (1984), Social stigma: The psychology of marked relationships., New York: Freeman, ISBN 978-0716715924

[20] Catherine Campbell, Harriet Deacon (Sep 2006), Unraveling the Contexts of Stigma: From Internalisation to
Resistance to Change, Journal of Community & Applied
Social Psychology 16 (6): 41117, doi:10.1002/casp.901,
ISSN 1052-9284

[34] Unz, D., Schwab, F., Winterho-Spurk, P. (2008),

TV newsthe daily horror?: Emotional eects of violent television news, Journal of Media Psychology:
Theories, Methods, and Applications 20 (4): 14155,
doi:10.1027/1864-1105.20.4.141

[21] Linda Shaw (Oct 1991), Stigma and the Moral Careers of Ex-Mental Patients Living in Board and Care,
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 20 (3): 285305,
doi:10.1177/089124191020003003

[35] Lafky et al. Looking through Gendered Lenses: Female

Stereotyping in Advertisements and Gender Role Expectations in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, v73 n2 p379-88 Sum 1996. http://virtualworker.
pbworks.com/f/Looking%20through....pdf

[22] Smith, R. (2011). Stigma, Communication, and Health

(2 ed.). Routledge Handbook of Health Communication.
pp. 45568.

[36] Coleman, Laurence J. (1985). Schooling the Gifted.

Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

[23] Smith, R. (2007). Language of the lost: An explication

of stigma communication. Communication Theory 17
(4): 46285. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2007.00307.x.

[37] Coleman, L. J. & Cross, T. L. (2001). Being Gifted in

School. Prufrock Press.

[24] Smith, R. (2012). An Experimental Test of Stigma

Communication Content with a Hypothetical Infectious
Disease Alert. Communication Monographs 79 (4).
doi:10.1080/03637751.2012.723811.

[38] Cross, T.L.; Coleman, L.J. (1993). The social cognition of gifted adolescents: An exploration of the stigma
of giftedness paradigm. Roeper Review 16 (1): 3747.
doi:10.1080/02783199309553532.

[25] Catherine Campbell, Carol Ann Foulis, Sbongile

Maimane, Zweni Sibiya (2005), I have an evil child at
my house: stigma and HIV/AIDS management in a South
African community, American journal of public health
95 (5): 80815, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2003.037499

[39] Google Scholar Search. Retrieved May 19, 2012.

[26] Cornish, F (2006), Challenging the stigma of sex work in

India: Material context and symbolic change, Journal of
Community and Applied Social Psychology 16 (6): 462
71, doi:10.1002/casp.894

[41] Google Scholar Search. Retrieved May 19, 2012.

[27] Ben Goldacre, The stigma gene, reproduced on his blog

from his column in The Guardian, 9 October 2010

[43] Arikan, K. (2005). A stigmatizating attitude towards

psychiatric illnesses is associated with narcissistic personality traits (PDF). Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci 42 (4): 248
50. PMID 16618057.

[28] https://books.google.com/books?id=FRszpOfV5o0C&
pg=PA113
[29] Kurzban R, Leary MR. (2001), Evolutionary Origins of Stigmatization: The Functions of Social Exclusion (PDF), Psychological Bulletin 127 (2): 187208,
doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.187, PMID 11316010
[30] James D Livingston, Teresa Milne, Mei Lan Fang,
Erica Amari (2012), The eectiveness of interventions for reducing stigma related to substance use disorders: a systematic review, Addiction 107 (1): 3950,
doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03601.x, PMC 3272222
[31] Song LY, Chang LY, Shih CY, Lin CY, Yang MJ. (2005),
Community Attitudes Towards the Mentally Ill: The Results of a National Survey of the Taiwanese Population,
International Journal of Social Psychiatry 51 (2): 16276,
doi:10.1177/0020764005056765, PMID 16048245
[32] Fong, C.; Hung, A. (2002), Public Awareness, Attituse,
and Underdstanding of Epilepsy in Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, China, Epilepsia 43 (3): 31116,
doi:10.1046/j.1528-1157.2002.31901.x
[33] Geschke, D., Sassenberg, K., Ruhrmann, G., Sommer, D. (2010), Eects of linguistic abstractness in the
mass media: How newspaper articles shape readers attitudes toward migrants, Journal of Media Psychology:
Theories, Methods, and Applications 22 (3): 99104,
doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000014

[40] Coleman, L.J.; Cross, T. L. (1988). Is being gifted a

social handicap?". Journal for the Education of the Gifted
11 (4): 4156.

[42] The American Association of Gifted Children (1978). On

Being Gifted. Walker and Company.

This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article.

6 References
George Ritzer (2006). Contemporary Social Theory
and its Classical Roots: The Basics (Second Edition).
McGraw-Hill.
Blaine, B. (2007). Understanding The Psychology of
Diversity. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Smith, R. A. (2009). Stigma communication. In S.
Littlejohn & K. Foss (Eds.), Encyclopedia of communication theory (pp 93134). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Healthline Networks, Inc.
2007

Retrieved: February

Anna Scheyett, The Mark of Madness: Stigma, Serious Mental Illnesses, and Social Work, Retrieved:
February 2007

10

Osborne, Jason W. (November 1993) Niagara

county community college. Academics, SelfEsteem, and Race: A look at the Underlying Assumptions of the Dissidentication Hypothesis
Carol T. Miller, Ester D. Rothblum, Linda Barbour, Pamela A. Brand and Diane Felicio (September 1989). University of Vermont. Social Interactions of Obese and Nonobese Women
Kenneth Plummer (1975). Sexual stigma: an interactionist account. Routledge. ISBN 0-7100-8060-3.

External links
Stigma Research and Action a peer reviewed open
access journal in the stigma eld

EXTERNAL LINKS

11

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Social stigma Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stigma?oldid=668902339 Contributors: Edward, Michael Hardy, Darkwind,

Topbanana, HarryHenryGebel, Sam Spade, Barbara Shack, Guanaco, Andycjp, Sonjaaa, Discospinster, Saintswithin, Bender235, Ntennis,
Sfahey, Rarr, Longhair, La goutte de pluie, Alansohn, Logologist, Kurieeto, Kay Dekker, Kelisi, Tydaj, Rjwilmsi, Eldamorie, Shervinafshar, YurikBot, Wavelength, RussBot, Casey J. Morris, Janarius, Elkman, Gregzeng, WanderingHermit, Bill, SmackBot, Ignotum per
Ignotius, Sharaith, Delldot, Commander Keane bot, Hmains, Scwlong, Julius Sahara, Jonathan B Singer, RandomP, SashatoBot, Robosh,
Antonielly, Mfaddersb, MTSbot~enwiki, Levineps, Joseph Solis in Australia, George100, ChrisCork, JForget, Penbat, Cydebot, ThatPeskyCommoner, Studerby, AndersFeder, The Lizard Wizard, Thijs!bot, Al Lemos, Missvain, Odoncaoa, Isilanes, Credema, KleRoi,
Sophie means wisdom, SiobhanHansa, JamesBWatson, Edward321, J.delanoy, Maurice Carbonaro, Yonidebot, 5Q5, Neagley, Mirrorsaw,
Petrobolos, Runt, Djr13, DASonnenfeld, Frer3, VolkovBot, JhsBot, Wykypydya, Greentopia, Jimmi Hugh, SieBot, M.thoriyan, Yerpo,
Mimihitam, Goustien, Svick, Rjfost, Zoostin, Martarius, S9901470, Trivialist, Auntof6, Jemmy Button, Jandrson, Jon Jonasson, JoelDick,
Elizium23, ChrisHodgesUK, Callinus, DumZiBoT, Uncategory, XLinkBot, Addbot, Cantaloupe2, Karduelis, Lightbot, Zorrobot, Jarble,
Burrburr, Yobot, TaBOT-zerem, Allenw01, Freikorp, GateKeeper, AnomieBOT, Rubinbot, Gtz, Killiondude, Jim1138, TheUnbeholden,
MercuryApex, DSisyphBot, Ched, Srich32977, Millelacs, Omnipaedista, Smallman12q, Aaron Kauppi, Erik9bot, FrescoBot, Dr Mateen
mmc, LinDrug, MastiBot, Trainmastercrc, Dinamik-bot, LilyKitty, Ichiro Kikuchi, RjwilmsiBot, Alph Bot, RAN1, DASHBot, WikitanvirBot, Wormald, GoingBatty, RememberingLife, Wikipelli, Josve05a, TheEndingDay, Robert Goodis, Orange Suede Sofa, Tijfo098,
Ihardlythinkso, U3964057, George Makepeace, ClueBot NG, Jack Greenmaven, Mckinnc3, This lousy T-shirt, Chrisminter, Helpful Pixie
Bot, Calabe1992, Snaevar-bot, Northamerica1000, Alexander Ehlers, Smcg8374, North911, Aplindse, Meclee, Airsh0w, Rayzenberg,
Jackninja5, Leucosticte, Mwhughey, Loriwm, Suzan ja, Mnettle, Ras57, Socialpsychra, Ysuarez21, Bgierk, Presteign, Sam Sailor, DudeWithAFeud, Monkbot, Gaudid, Geeeaych, Queezkingdom and Anonymous: 121

8.2

Images

File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

File:Logo_sociology.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Logo_sociology.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: Tomeq183
File:Psi2.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Psi2.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?

8.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0