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This 10 page paper discusses "Stigma" in terms of its theoretical orientation, theory, and criticims. This paper highlights the ramifications of being stigmatized in our society. Bibliography list 1 source.
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10 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_GSStigma.rtf
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society believes is "normal". Because these people are not socially accepted, they are stigmatized, hence the title of the book. Those who fall into this category are many,
ranging from drug addicts, to prostitutes, to the physically deformed, etc. Furthermore, this book suggests that these people, because they are ostracized, must constantly struggle with coming to terms
with their social identities. The Greeks, who were apparently strong on visual aids, originated the term stigma to refer
to bodily signs designed to expose something unusual and bad about the moral status of the signifer. The signs were cut or burnt into the body and advertised that
the bearer was a slave, a criminal or a traitor - a blemished person, ritually polluted, to be avoided, especially in public places. Later, in Christian times, to layers
of metaphor were added to the term: the first referred to bodily signs of holy grace that took the form of eruptive blossoms on the skin; the second, a medical
allusion to this religious allusion, referred to bodily signs of physical disorder (Goffman, p. 1).
Quite obviously, the word stigma originates from roots which reveal the negativity associated with the word. To stigmatize someone then is to ostracize them, to
view them badly for who they are, which in turn affects their own definition of self. To be stigmatized is to be branded, and to endure the scorn and
negativity which accompany the label. We all have expectations about what people "should" be or "should" look like. "We
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