Stigma and Social Identity

Erving Goffman studied the same psychological links as Lemert, but came to different conclusions. In "Stigma and Social Identity" Goffman reasoned that if Cooley and Lemert are correct (that other people's reactions influence our behaviors and identities), then we will try to control the reactions of others by manipulating what we reveal about ourselves.

Note how each theorist built on another. George Herbert Mead came up with the concept of the generalized other, which he defined as an abstract group of people with whom one identifies. Then Cooley, Mead's good friend, came up with the concept of the looking-glass self, which he defined as a vision of the self based on other people's reactions. Then Blumer, a student of Cooley, coined the term symbolic interactionism, which he used to explain how people interpret or make sense of each other's actions. Meanwhile, Lemert added to Cooley's concept by arguing that the looking-glass self can cause individual deviance as well as conformity. Later, Goffman realized that people reveal or hide certain things in order to manipulate the reactions of others.

If you have time, read the entire book, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. As its title indicates, the book describes how people manage their spoiled identities.

While you read the extract "Stigma and Social Identity" in Social Deviance: Readings, make a glossary of the concepts that Goffman defines and uses. (You will eventually have to do this for all of the articles in this lesson, but Goffman's article is a good place to start.)

Concepts lie in the title (Stigma), in italics (the discredited and the discreditable), in lists (physical deformities, character blemishes, and tribal stigmas), and in subtitles (The Own and the Wise). Your glossary should list the concept in capital letters followed by a colon, its syntax, and definition followed by a period. Then you should cite the source of the concept, for example:

STIGMA: noun; an attribute that can be discrediting, depending on the audience. Goffman (1963) in Pontell (1993) page 68.

As you make your glossary, pay attention to how and why Goffman uses each concept to build his paradigm.

Goffman is one of my idols. I want to be like him when I grow up, as least as a sociologist. Why? Because Goffman wrote clearly enough to be understood by a diverse audience, and studied how people live life in their day-to-day, face-to-face interactions. Thus, his ideas can be useful to all. I wish that I could write as lucidly and as insightfully as Erving Goffman did in his eleven treatises.

To see what I mean, ask yourself the following questions: Do you see yourself in the faces of other people? If so what do you see? What kind of secondary deviance, if any, do you engage in? Do the reactions of others influence how you act and, more importantly, how you think of yourself? I hope that people don't affect you too much, but I assume the reactions of others do influence you to some degree. So the next question is, How do you manage discredited and discreditable aspects of your identity? After you have answered these questions, ask yourself one more: Do you like your answers? As you can see, sociology, especially symbolic interactionism, can help you examine how you live your life.

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