A Critical Review of Erving Goffman’s Stigma Essay

Goffman felt that there was already good work done on the topic of stigma. However, he wanted to discuss the previous works and his own ideas regarding stigma. Writing Stigma Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity provided him a place to discuss his ideas regarding prior work on stigma, and to give his spin on it.

In a society filled with various social pressures, it can be difficult not to feel a need to conform. In Erving Goffman’s, “Stigma and Social Identity”, he illustrates theories that bring to light these pressures that we may not even realize are there. Dated back to ancient Grecian times, there has been a societal constraint to fit a mold that the culture has deemed “normal”. As humans we feel the need to place labels onto someone's person and file them away. Making assumptions that we can fit people categorically into folders without even speaking to them to find out their interests.

The word itself, used when branding lower class Ancient Greek citizens (around 500 BC) after they’d committed a crime, hasn’t altered in meaning. Although society might not physically give them a symbol of their sin, group mentality ensures those victimized a life full of judgement. The consequences of stigmatization against those with metal incapacities are large and often seen as a whole other weakness altogether. These pre-disposed judgments of others, thrust upon those with mental illness, can easily undermine and overpower the life goals and achievements through reduced participation in society’s staple components (education opportunities, employment, and even relationships with others) (Source D). The worldwide goal of eliminating stigma's effects on people labeled “mentally ill” has become a major public health priority over the past ten years via nationwide campaigns. Attempts to change public stigma have been achieved in three ways- protest, education, and direct contact with those usually targeted (Source E). The protest aspect plays on the idea of a public shaming by telling the public to suppress the thoughts and let go of previous inhibitions. The educational aspect of spreading awareness seeks to decrease stigmatizing myths of mental illness by contrasting them with the cold hard facts. Lastly, direct contact tries to erase the prejudice and discrimination of mental illness through interactions between the “public” and people in recovery, showing them how alike we are. The overall hope is that if progressive people such as scientists, public speakers, and even well-known psychiatrists

Labelling and stigma has now more than ever become an increasing problem with cultural and social views being extrapolated onto domestic violence victims and mental health patients. Stigma is a concept that consists of three parts: self-stigma, structural stigma and public stigma. Public stigma is a culturally constructed view by society based on a strong disapproval of what is perceived to be different from the ‘norm’, thus making them a marginalised group (Corrigan & O’Shaughnessy, 2007, pp. 90-91). This type of stigma links in with structural stigma that has policies in place which exclude these types of people from further life opportunities and labels them as ‘different’. These two types of stigma intertwine with self-stigma that often

People who are mentally ill or disabled are often stigmatized in society and deemed of lesser value than those who are “normal,” meaning they do not have a mental illness or disability. There are only a few options for treatment within the disabled community and all of the options are unfair. They are, hospitalization to imprisonment to being homeless. These so-called treatments for those who are considered “abnormal” and “sick” dehumanize them, prevent them from making their own life decisions, devalue their quality of life, and further perpetuate stereotypes by separating the normal and abnormal people (as if they are different). In my paper, I will utilize the article “A Training Ground for Untrained Artists” by Nathaniel Richdec and a

The mentally ill were removed from society, so their condition was viewed as negative and sometimes dangerous. In Erving Goffman’s book, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, he maintains this idea by noting, “The stigmatized individual is asked to act so as to imply

Furthermore, Goffman introduces the reader to two main groups of characters in his logic: the “normal” and the stigmatized and classifies the stigmatized again into the discredited and the discreditable. The discredited show an obvious discrepancy between their actual and their virtual social identity, while the discreditable do not immediately show their differentness. Additionally, the reader gets introduced to the terms (1) social information, (2) symbols, (3) status symbols and (4) stigma symbols

Shunning and ignoring mental health patients comes under the umbrella of stigmatization. Recent interpretations of the term stigma have become somewhat confused and, at times, blur with those of social exclusion and discrimination (Jorm & Oh, 2009). To attempt to clarify the meaning of stigma, Goffman's seminal work is very useful. Goffman's (1963) monograph contributes to the potential lack of clarity by stating that stigma involves a combination of personal attributes and social stereotypes related to societal access to and endorsement of well-known "unacceptable" or "inferior" human characteristics. Technically therefore, a person may not be mentally ill, but others may attribute this condition to her or him, draw on entrenched stereotypes, and interact with the person in a manner arising from the observers'

In chapter one of Stigma, Goffman describes different definitions of the term stigma. For example in the very beginning of the book he describes how early Greeks used the term stigma. He describes how the Greeks would refer stigma to body markings of different individuals to show how they were deviant and socially unacceptable in their society at that time. Goffman then describes how in later Christianity the word stigma and body markings meant a spiritual symbol or a symbol for a physical disorder. Throughout chapter one Goffman identifies three different types of stigma; body which can be described as physical, character which is described as internal or personal, and tribal stigma which could be consider social or even cultural. After identifying these three different stigmas, Goffman then describes how there

While stigma may not necessarily be a cause of a person’s mental disorder, it can certainly contribute to the complication and perpetuation of their illness. The effect of stigma goes well beyond just the patient and provides a commentary on society’s overall level of intolerance of those who are considered different from the majority. By recognizing the level of stigma that exists, perhaps we can alter that behavior and gravitate towards a more productive attitude towards mental illness.

We first need to ask ourselves what stigma actually is. The government of Western Australia Mental Health Commission defines stigma as, “… a mark of disgrace that

Mental illness and the stigma associated with it illustrate the concept of the sociological imagination. Living with a mental illness is a private trouble, affecting the individual personally, physically, psychologically, socially, and even economically. The trouble is made even more private in the respect that those with anxiety/depression/etcetera often suffer in silence since their affliction is not necessarily visible to others. The stigma associated with mental illness exacerbates the individual, while simultaneously lending itself to the public issues regarding mental illness.

Until recently, few health insurance plans provided coverage for mental health services to the same extent as physical health services, if they were covered at all. The reasons for the discrimination in health insurance vary, but mental illnesses historically have not been well understood by the public, and people have had a hard time understanding that mental illnesses are biologically based diseases that affect the mind and body just like any other disease that has solely physical manifestations. A stigma is said to occur when people view something in a negative way because of a distinguishing characteristic or trait that is thought to be, or is, a disadvantage. The stigma surrounding mental illness has led to direct and obvious discrimination and one of its results, and the focus of this paper, is the discrimination to the mentally ill and mentally infirm by not providing health insurance that adequately covers mental illness diagnosis and treatments. Despite the progress of mental health parity legislation, the passing of the ACA and the advances in mental health research that have revealed that mental illnesses are biologically based, a stigma still remains around individuals with mental illnesses, that has led to exemptions, road-blocking the goal of full parity. This paper demonstrateS that while advances in the availability of private insurance coverage for those with mental illnesses has improved, there are still loopholes that private insurance

Stigma can be defined as a mark of shame or ignominy that sets individuals apart from others. Goffman notes “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”. (Goffman) Given, when a person is labeled by said illness, disorder, or deviancy they are seen as a part of a stereotyped group and as a result are stigmatized by the “normals”. Moreover, the routines of social interactions in society allow us to create normative expectations and demands for the way ones in said society are expected to

Mental health and its stigma are an important issue plaguing today’s society. Many do not understand or acknowledge the severity of mental illness. The stigma against mental