Deviance Flashcards
What is deviance?
Behaviors that violate social norms
Deviance is context-dependent, like norms
What is stigma?
An attribute of an individual or group that is deeply discrediting
An attribute that causes embarrassment or disgrace
A negative social label that changes others’ behavior toward a person and alters that person’s own self-concept and social identity
What are the three types of stigma?
Abominations of the body
Blemishes of individual character
Tribal Stigmas
What are abominations of the body?
A stigma based on physical deformities
What are blemishes of individual character?
A stigma that is not visible and has to be inferred by people
Ex. weak will, unnatural passions, treacherous and rigid beliefs, dishonesty
Inferred from: mental disorder, imprisonment, addiction, alcoholism, homosexuality, unemployment, suicide attempts, radical political behavior
What are tribal stigmas?
Race, Nation, Religious Beliefs
Transmitted through lineages and equally contaminate all members of a family
Ex, Muslims being treated differently after the 9/11 event
When does stigma occur?
Stigma occurs when an individual is different from the other individuals in their category in a way that is viewed as negative, or when an entire category is seen negatively
What is stigmatized varies depending on your category?
Some qualities are considered good for one group or setting, but bad in another
EX. Being appropriate for women to cry in public vs men being able to cry in public
Who are the discredited?
Those whose stigma is so obvious that there is never any doubt about the stigma
Primary challenge is “managing tension generated during social contracts”
Ex. People with visible disabilities (blind)
Who are the discreditable?
Those whose stigma is not immediately obvious
Primary challenge is “managing information about his failing”
Have to manage the information you are giving
What information to tell others, and how it can affect you
What are the “normal” reactions to the stigmatized?
- Most people do not overtly react to stigma when an individual is discredited
- Dismissiveness
- Rudeness
- Avoidance and exclusion
- “Two-faceness”
- Ridicule
- Most severe reactions most likely to occur when the stigma is seen as a “blemish of the individual character” (Ex. homelessness)
What are the consequences of stigma for the stigmatized?
Social rejection/self-isolation
Loss of social status
Shame
Prejudice and discrimination
Decreased access to resources
Reduced self-esteem
Anxiety related to information management
How do stigmatized people respond to their stigmatization?
Attempt to fix
Overcompensation
Ownership
Joining groups with stigmatized others
What is attempt to fix?
A person might make a direct attempt to correct their stigma
Ex. Plastic surgery for weight, nose
Code-switching
What is overcompensation?
Individual attempts to correct his condition indirectly by devoting much private effort to the mastery of areas of activity ordinarily felt to be closed on incidental and physical grounds to one with his shortcoming
overcompensate
Ex. perfectionism, someone blind might learn learn how to ski
What is ownership?
Embracing the negative labels “normals” attach to the stigmatized
Ex. reclaiming slurs, queer- gay pride
What is joining groups with stigmatized others?
There are formal groups and informal groups
Formal groups: AA, Weight watchers
Informal groups: finding friends like you, gangs
What are factors that can influence how stigmatized people cope with stigma?
Visibility and Personal relationships or informational connectedness
How is visibility influencing how stigmatized people cope with stigma?
If a stigma is not readily evident, the stigmatized can pass as normal
Trying to pass can cause stress and tension
Ex. A person with light skin can pass as white
How are personal relationships or informational connectedness influence how stigmatized people cope with stigma?
Shapes and constrains opportunities for passing
To what extent do those who know the individual know about their stigma?
The more connected they are, the more the discreditable may risk becoming discredited
Who isn’t stigmatized?
Those who fully conform to the norms of the time of that society
At the time, Goffman wrote it, the un-stigmatized male is young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual, protestant, father, college-educated
