Stigma Research Paper

Long ago, in the Christian tradition, the word “stigma” was used to refer to the marks left on Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. In sociology, however, “stigma” is used “to refer to bodily signs designed to expose something unusual and bad about the moral status of the signifier” (Goffman 1). The text also refers to stigma as something which is “used to refer to an attribute that is deeply discrediting” (Goffman 3) and an “undesired differentness from what we had anticipated” (Goffman 5). Based on this evidence, it is clear that stigma is something undesirable and has a negative effect on the lives of people who have one or more. There are three types of stigma a person can have. First, there are the “abominations of the body- the various …show more content…
The stigmatized feel as though they never know what other are “really thinking about him” (Goffman 14). When others do react to the stigma, however, it is usually in a negative way. When a cripple falls during a sport, often times the “difficulty is more or less automatically attributed to ‘mental defect’” (Goffman 15), or in this case, physical defect. It does not matter that more than likely there was another explanation completely lacking the defect, the defect is the only thing that people see. Another example of this concept is when a girl, 12 years old, is criticized because her father is a criminal. In the excerpt about this girl, she says, “I try to be nice and friend to everyone but it’s no use” (Goffman 30). Similar to the cripple playing the sport, this girl is seen only as the stigma attached to her. We see this in our daily lives with the Muslims who are being attacked because of their religion. No matter how kind the person is, or how much he or she minds their business, the stigma will not go away. Due to the way people react to stigma, the stigmatized become insecure and wish to conceal their “shortcoming[s]” (Goffman …show more content…
For example, a physically deformed individual cannot hide their abnormality and anyone with a serious disease cannot hide that he or she has been permanently effected. When a stigma is impossible to suppress, the individual has no choice but to manage the stigma. There are different ways to do this- some easier than others. For physical deformities, there is almost always the option to have. A physically deformed person can have plastic surgery done, a blind person can have an eye treatment (Goffman 9), deaf people can get surgeries and hearing aids, etc. The harder deformities to manage, however, are those that involve mental functions or abnormalities such as incurable diseases. Commonly, an individual will decide that either their stigma is a blessing in disguise, or that even “normals” have limitations. A mother permanently disabled by polio wrote, “I know my awareness of people has deepened and increased, that those who are close to me can count on me to turn all my mind and heart and attention to their problems. I could not have learned that dashing all over a tennis court” (Goffman 11). This woman could easily give up all optimism due to her disease, but instead, in order to manage her stigma, she tells herself that it actually helped her live her life with more meaning. Often times this is seen in cancer patients. When asking a cancer patient if their disease may have done anything for him or her, often

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