Stigmatization

STIGMA IS A widely used term that connotes a less desired or devalued status. Numerous definitions of stigma exist and many publications over the past decade have attempted to clarify or enhance the definition of stigma. The concept of stigma gained popularity with the publication of Erving Goffman's (1963) classic work, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity and reference to stigma as an “attribute that is deeply discrediting,” causing the individual to become “tainted” and “discounted.” Most definitions of stigma reference an attribute (label) and social perceptions and beliefs about the attribute (stereotypes). It is not the attribute itself that produces stigma, according to C.I. Waxman, but rather the social perception of the attribute that determines the stigma. Stigma arises “from social interactions between those who acquire potentially discrediting conditions and the individuals with whom they interact,” as phrased by S.C. Ainlay et al. Stereotypes develop from negative beliefs and characterizations that may apply to some individuals and are generalized to all individuals in a given category.

A definition of stigma based on solely labeling and stereotyping is not sufficiently comprehensive. In fact, with such a definition, lawyers, accountants, or artists could then be viewed as stigmatized groups, theorize B.G. Link and J.C. Phelan. Thus, an expanded definition of stigma is needed to capture the full nature of the stigma experience. Stigma, according to Link and Phelan, is the convergence of labeling, stereotyping, separation, status loss, and discrimination together in a power situation. In their description of the stigma process, human differences are initially labeled, and dominant-culture beliefs associate labeled individuals with negative stereotypes.

Separation occurs when the label creates an “us” and “them” or in-group and out-group phenomenon. Status loss and discrimination, although not commonly included in the definition of stigma, are part of the meaning of stigma and the known outcomes that occur when individuals and groups are devalued and discounted. This definition describes the multilayered experience of stigma.

Included in the definition by Link and Phelan is the acknowledgment that stigma involves power. Power differences are often not considered in situations involving stigma but are essential for stigma to occur. An extreme example of power differences is the Nazi power that stigmatized Jewish people. Stigma involves power in day-to-day situations when individuals who control [Page 1028]careers and housing, for example, stigmatize certain powerless groups.