What is Stigma? Part 2: Social Identity

The first pattern is an 'inborn stigma' (e.g., birth defects, being an orphan). Individuals learn about their stigma early in life and how to adapt to normal standards.

The second pattern involves growing up in a 'safe bubble' and only realizing one's stigmatized condition upon entering the wider world (e.g., school, job market), leading to a realization of limitations and discrimination.

The video introduces Erving Goffman's concept of stigma, defining it as a 'spoiled identity' or a mark that makes individuals less than 'normal.' It clarifies the terms 'stigmatized people' and 'normals' as used by Goffman, emphasizing that these are descriptive terms, not moral judgments.

Normal people often create 'stigma theories' to justify discrimination against stigmatized individuals. Stigma also tends to spread from one aspect of a person (e.g., a physical disability) to their entire character, leading to assumptions about other unrelated deficiencies.

Goffman examines 'mixed contacts' between stigmatized and normal people, highlighting the dilemmas faced by stigmatized individuals. Any defensive reaction is often used against them by normals. Stigmatized people also internalize societal standards of normality, leading to self-hatred or harsh self-judgment for not meeting these unattainable standards.

Stigmatized individuals often experience deep insecurity, pain, and a feeling of not being accepted. Mixed contacts are characterized by anxiety, with both sides 'performing' to maintain an illusion of normalcy. Normals also tend to inappropriately pry into the stigmatized person's condition.

To avoid the anxiety of mixed contacts, stigmatized people may retreat to groups of 'the own' (those who share the same stigma) or 'the wise' (those who understand or are familiar with the stigma without sharing it, like certain professionals).

Stigma can be contagious, rubbing off on family members or associates, leading to isolation. The video then introduces the 'moral career of the stigmatized person,' defining a career as a sequence of events and 'moral' as pertaining to the goodness or badness of character. A moral career is about learning one's identity in relation to stigma.

Goffman outlines two phases of a moral career: first, learning societal standards of normality, and second, understanding one's own standing in relation to those standards based on their stigmatized characteristics.

The third pattern is acquiring a stigma in mid or late life, often due to illness or injury. This leads to a strong sense of biographical disruption, loss of identity, and grieving for the 'normal' self.

The fourth pattern describes someone raised in an isolated community who later encounters the wider world of 'normals,' realizing their earlier standards were different and needing to adapt to new ones, as exemplified by Tara Westover.

Stigmatized people often learn about their future life possibilities by interacting with others who share their stigma, going through 'affiliation cycles' where they repeatedly engage with and withdraw from their stigma group.