Stick To You

stigma

is a deeply discrediting' attribute in relationships including abominations of the body, blemishes of character and tribal stigmata.

'deeply discrediting' attribute in the context of a set of relationships (1963:3). He distinguished three types: abominations of the body, blemishes of character and tribal stigmata (1963:4). The focus of his analysis was primarily the stigmatized person's techniques of 'information control' by which discrediting, undisclosed, information could be managed. Goffman recognized that the management of potentially damaging information was critical for three aspects of our identity: the 'personal', the 'social' and the 'ego'. Our personal identity is what makes each of us unique... it consist of 'identity pegs' (such as fingerprints) and life histories (1963:57). Our social identity is what others understand about us by virtue of the groups to which we belong. Our ego identity refers to what we think about ourselves.

is a process by which the reaction of others spoils normal identity.

A process by which the reaction of others spoils normal identity'

is grounded in that psychological truism where a dreadful experience raises the question as to whether the one who experienced it is not something dreadful also.

Dreadful experiences raise the question whether he who experiences them, is not something dreadful also. Friedrich Nietzsche

is, along with the normal, not persons, but perspectives.

The normal and the stigmatized are not persons, but perspectives. Erving Goffman

is a moral tattoo that used to be etched onto unwed mothers and similar wayward types, effectively deterring others from the same path until tattoos became fashionable.

A moral tattoo that used to be etched onto unwed mothers and similar wayward types, effectively deterring others from the same path until tattoos became fashionable.

stigma, n.All

stigma