Through this Anderson, Snow & Cress’s study we find how the homeless use different in-group strategies (e.g., drinking, cheap entertainment, hanging out, and identity talk) that function to take their minds off their situation and to reshape their identities in a more positive light. Additionally, we find that the homeless use out-group strategies, such as passing, covering, defiance, and collective action to negotiate their status with the community. Despite, the being perceived as under socialized, disaffiliated men, retreatists, and individuals lacking attachment, the labels placed on these individuals the findings contradicted these notions. As a matter of fact, it was found that life in the public realm is downright social, as many homeless not only socialize among themselves, but many of them consistently and resourcefully reached out to the community and proved the notion that they are unsocial wrong. Ultimately, we find that the homeless do in fact exhibit a finely-honed awareness of and responsiveness to social norms through the in-group and out-group stigma management strategies they employ to endure a profoundly disheartening situation they find themselves …show more content…
According to Goffman, stigma prevents full social acceptance, as certain traits are deeply discrediting to some individuals, which reduces the status of the person being stigmatized. In other words, stigma affects those stigmatized by impacting their self and identity, and how those perceived as “normal” people interact with stigmatized individuals. Likewise, Goffman points out that people are stigmatized depending on how others respond to them by categorizing them into three different types of stigma. The first being body abominations in which people use visible means to determine a person’s acceptance. Some physical deformities that would make a person eligible to be categorized under this stigma would be anorexia, physical disability, and overweightness. Secondly, there are tribal stigmas in which people are stigmatized due their race; religion, nationality and can lead to the stigmatization of the individual’s entire group or family. The third type of stigma is based on character (people reacted to as though they have a character flaw) in which the person is stigmatized due to a deviation in personal traits like a mental disorder, alcoholism, or a drug addiction. In essence, people that are stigmatized are dehumanized due to the discrimination exercised against them. In retrospect, stigma allows us to show inferiority over a person and represents these individuals as dangerous to the well being of