Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity

{{Short description|1963 book by Erving Goffman}}

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Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity is a 1963 book by Erving Goffman.{{Cite journal |last=DeFleur |first=M. L. |date=1964-10-01 |title=STIGMA: NOTES ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SPOILED IDENTITY. By Erving Goffman. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1963. 147 pp. Cloth, $4.50; paper, $1.95 |url=https://academic.oup.com/sf/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/sf/43.1.127 |journal=Social Forces |language=en |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=127–128 |doi=10.1093/sf/43.1.127 |issn=0037-7732|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |date=1969-09-01 |title=Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity |journal=Postgraduate Medical Journal |language=en |volume=45 |issue=527 |pages=642 |doi=10.1136/pgmj.45.527.642 |s2cid=220129419 |issn=0032-5473|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Hall |first=Peter |date=June 1971 |title=Book Reviews : STIGMA: NOTES ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SPOILED IDENTITY by Professor Erving Goffman. Published by Pelican Books, 1968. Pp 173. Price: 25p |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002076407101700310 |journal=International Journal of Social Psychiatry |language=en |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=239 |doi=10.1177/002076407101700310 |s2cid=143940380 |issn=0020-7640|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Seeman |first1=Melvin |last2=Goffman |first2=Erving |date=October 1964 |title=Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2091442 |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=770 |doi=10.2307/2091442|jstor=2091442 |url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Weinstein |first=Eugene |date=March 1965 |title=Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Erving Goffman |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/223949 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |language=en |volume=70 |issue=5 |pages=636 |doi=10.1086/223949 |issn=0002-9602|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Polsky |first=Howard W. |author-link=Howard W. Polsky |date=June 1964 |title=Book Review: Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity |journal=Social Casework |language=en |volume=45 |issue=6 |pages=357–358 |doi=10.1177/104438946404500611 |issn=0037-7678 |s2cid=165956340 |doi-access=free}} The book examines how people protect themselves and their identities when they depart from socially approved standards of behavior or appearance.

People manage others' impressions of themselves, mainly through concealment. Stigma pertains to the shame a person may feel when he or she fails to meet other people's standards, and to the fear of being discredited. This shame and fear causes the person not to reveal his or her differences or perceived shortcomings. For example, a person with a criminal record may simply withhold that information for fear of judgment by whomever that person happens to encounter.{{cite book |author=John Scott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9CoOeWYW3v8C&pg=PA115 |title=Fifty Key Sociologists: The Contemporary Theorists |date=16 October 2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-12890-9 |page=115 |access-date=29 May 2013}}

An important concept within the book is passing, whereby a person with a stigma blends in with normals by way of not disclosing personal attributes.{{Cite journal |last=Kanuha |first=Val Kalei |date=December 1999 |title=The Social Process of Passing to Manage Stigma: Acts of Internalized Oppression of Acts of Resistance |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/jrlsasw26&div=48&g_sent=1&casa_token=EuetnvRwdn0AAAAA:C7r0vgesvqAdMkdIBX7djeP-zVSL-eA_FkMvlwCBsFpH9_r22lX-pnfu_hIpaFu_oNKYRvsg&collection=journals# |journal=Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=27–46|doi=10.15453/0191-5096.2606 |doi-access=free }}