Analysis Of Erving Goffman's Stigma

Erving Goffman’s Stigma helps explains the basis on how people become stigmatized in society. There are many circumstances where people do not follow the standards that are placed on by society. Theses people often do not fit in due to the fact that they will never be normal to society’s standards. Goffman believes that the virtual character and the factual character creates discrepancies between them and causing stigmas. The stereotypes and attributes an individual or group can have will lead them stigmatized.
In chapter one, he discusses the types of stigmas that exist in society on an individual and groups. The stigma of an individual’s traits such as being strong willed, weak, mischievous, and belief systems. They can be translated to people differently as the individual or group could have a …show more content…
We see stigmatized symbols everyday in society such as genders. We have associated pink and feminine hobbies with girls and boys with blue and masculine qualities. Skin color is the biggest stigmatized symbol as we see it displayed in all aspects of society. People have so many judgements and prejudices against different skin colors. It is often the deciding factor for some people such as getting the job, who to talk to, who to befriend. It has quite a messy and gruesome history through slavery and different concentration camps. Skin color can often show status to other people in society. As there are many studies out there that can explain how skin color pigment is correlated with low socioeconomic status. In order for people to compensate for their stigmatizes symbol they will use disidentifiers to try to pass as normal in society. There are examples of people using glasses to appear to be smarter. The major problem with using disidentifiers is it starts to become complicated to maintain. It causes relationship problems and people take strides to appear