Book Spotlight: Stigma - Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity is a book written by Erving Goffman in 1963 about the idea of stigma and what it is like to be a stigmatized person. It is a look into the world of persons who society does not consider "normal." Stigmatized people are those that do not have full social acceptance and are constantly striving to adjust their social identities: physically deformed people, mental patients, drug addicts, prostitutes, etc. Goffman relies extensively on autobiographies and case studies to analyze stigmatized persons' feelings about themselves and their relationships to "normal" people. He looks at the variety of strategies that stigmatized individuals use to deal with the rejection of others and the complex images of themselves that they project to others. Read more about Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity and see what Goffman uncovers.