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:link: Social stigma - Coggle Diagram

- - - - However, the attributes that society selects differ 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 labelled person is subjected to status loss and discrimination. Society will start to form expectations about those groups once the cultural stereotype is secured.
    - - Stigma may affect the behavior of those who are stigmatized. :pushpin:Those who are stereotyped often start to act in ways that their stigmatizers expect of them. It not only changes their behavior, but it also shapes their emotions and beliefs.
        
        Members of stigmatized social groups often face prejudice that causes depression (i.e. deprejudice).
        
        These stigmas put a person's social identity in threatening situations, such as low self-esteem.
        
        Because of this, identity theories have become highly researched. Identity threat theories can go hand-in-hand with labeling theory.
        
        Studies have shown that "by 10 years of age, most children are aware of cultural stereotypes of different groups in society, and children who are members of stigmatized groups are aware of cultural types at an even younger age."[5]
- - - - The stigmatized are ostracized, devalued, scorned, shunned and ignored.
        
        Young people who experience stigma associated with mental health difficulties may face negative reactions from their peer group.[13][14][15][16] 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.[17]
      - They experience discrimination in the realms of employment and housing.[11]
      - Perceived prejudice and discrimination is also associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes.[12]
      - :pushpin: 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.[17]
      - Positive stigma
        
        There are also "positive stigma": it is possible to be too rich, or too smart. This is noted by Goffman (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. This can result in social stigma.
    - - the stigmatizer
        
        From the perspective of the stigmatizer, stigmatization involves threat, aversion[clarification needed] and sometimes the depersonalization of others into stereotypic caricatures.
        
        :pushpin: Stigmatizing others can serve several functions for an individual, including self-esteem enhancement, control enhancement, and anxiety buffering, through downward-comparison—comparing oneself to less fortunate others can increase one's own subjective sense of well-being and therefore boost one's self-esteem.[17]
    - - 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 find themselves accorded a measure of acceptance, a measure of courtesy membership 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,"
        
        Goffman 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 (assuming social milieus in which homosexuals and dark-skinned people are stigmatized).
      - A 2012 study[9] 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. The active wise encouraged challenging stigmatization and educating stigmatizers, but the passive wise did not.
  - - - Goffman gives the example that "some 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 are marked as failures and outsiders.
        
        Similarly, a middle-class boy may feel no compunction in being seen going to the library; a professional criminal, however, writes [about keeping his library visits secret]." He also gives the example of blacks being stigmatized among whites, and whites being stigmatized among blacks.
  - - - In the first, he is discreditable—his 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; Goffman 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 discredited—his stigma has been revealed and thus it affects not only his behavior but the behavior of others.
      - Jones et al. (1984)'s Six Dimensions
        
        Jones et al. (1984) added the "six dimensions" and correlate them to Goffman's two types of stigma, discredited and discreditable.
        
        Course of the mark – whether the stigma's prominence increases, decreases, or disappears
        
        :pushpin:Disruptiveness – the degree to which the stigma and/or others' reaction to it impedes social interactions
        
        :pushpin:Aesthetics – the subset of others' reactions to the stigma comprising reactions that are positive/approving or negative/disapproving but represent estimations of qualities other than the stigmatized person's inherent worth or dignity
        
        Concealable – the extent to which others can see the stigma
        
        Origin – whether others think the stigma is present at birth, accidental, or deliberate
        
        Peril – the danger that others perceive (whether accurately or inaccurately) the stigma to pose to them
  - - - Overt or external deformities – such as leprosy, clubfoot, cleft lip or palate and muscular dystrophy.
      - :pushpin: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.
      - Tribal stigma – affiliation with a specific nationality, religion, or race that constitute a deviation from the normative, e.g. being African American, or being of Arab descent in the United States after the 9/11 attacks.[24]
  - - - Goffman illuminated how stigmatized people manage their "Spoiled identity" (meaning the stigma disqualifies the stigmatized individual from full social acceptance) before audiences of normals.
        
        He focused on stigma, not as a fixed or inherent attribute of a person, but rather as the experience and meaning of difference.[25]
- - - - Societal deviance refers to a condition widely perceived, in advance and in general, as being deviant and hence stigma and stigmatized. "Homosexuality is, therefore, an example of societal deviance because there is such a high degree of consensus to the effect that homosexuality is different, and a violation of norms or social expectation".[18]
      - :pushpin:Situational deviance refers to a deviant act that is labeled as deviant in a specific situation, and may not be labeled deviant by society. Similarly, a socially deviant action might not be considered deviant in specific 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 affected."[full citation needed]
- - - - 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".[22]