Goffman's Theory Analysis

Goffman defines three typologies to stigma, which include the abominations of the body (physical disabilities), blemishes of individual character (moral fallings); and tribal stigma (race, religion, ethnicity) (sahn). Society establishes the means of categorizing individuals and the complements of attributes felt to be ordinary and natural for members in a given category (spoiled). With any first encounter with another individual, first appearances provide the ability to categorize their attributes or their social identity (spoiled). Society uses these observations and transforms them into normative expectations, meaning that if an individual goes against the normative expectation, they will be succumbed to a stigmatized label (spoiled). Typically, individuals in society do not realize that assumptions and demands have been made to define what a “good citizen” should entail until individuals begin to point the negative attributes of the person in question and potentially labels them as deviant (spoiled). More specifically, there are a variety of characteristics in society that can be …show more content…
On a personal level, Goffman’s theory successfully portrays the consequences that stigmatized individuals undergo which must become public knowledge I order for others to understand the negative aspects of being stigmatized and hopefully understand that labelling individuals based on certain characteristics or attributes is unethical. The extent to which a serious crime took place may result in a reasonable label as it can act a security method, however; it must be for crimes that put others at risk and not merely petty crimes, which an individual can easily learn from overtime. Overall, this theory successfully focuses on the stigmatized individuals and the potential consequences they