Stigma
Definition
Goffman's term for a deeply discrediting attribute that reduces the bearer to a spoiled identity in others' eyes. A criminal conviction functions as a visible stigma, disclosed to employers, landlords, and public authorities, that constrains the person's legitimate options.
Related terms
- Deviant career
- Becker's concept describing how an individual moves sequentially through stages of deviance, from initial rule-breaking through labelling and eventually into immersion in...
- Moral entrepreneur
- Becker's term for an individual or group that campaigns to create or enforce moral rules, defining what will count as deviant and...
- Primary deviance
- Rule-breaking behaviour that precedes or occurs without official labelling. Lemert argued that primary deviance is common and does not in itself alter...
- Secondary deviance
- Deviant behaviour that arises as an adaptation to the social reaction to primary deviance. Once labelled, a person restructures their identity and...
- Self-fulfilling prophecy
- A situation in which a definition, though originally inaccurate or arbitrary, provokes behaviour that makes it accurate. In labelling theory, treating someone...
Explained in
- Labelling Theory and Social ReactionGoffman's term for a deeply discrediting attribute that reduces the bearer to a spoiled identity in others' eyes. A criminal conviction functions as a visible...