1
Stigma & Dirt
DISABILITY & SOCIETY:Introduction to Disability Studies
April 5, 2007 Week 2, Session 4
2
I. Stigma & the Individual Stigma Power Stigma Management
Discreditable - information control Discredited - tension management
-(Simulations)-
II. Society & the “Other” Douglas
Concept of Dirt 5 Ways Cultures deal with “dirt”
3
STIGMA:STIGMA: The “Spoiled Identity”
Viewed Less Than Fully Human
WHY STUDY STIGMA?
4
WHAT IS STIGMA’S PURPOSE?
Allows us to deal with: “Anticipated others with out special attention or thought.” (Who’s “IN”/Who’s “OUT”)
Helps Categorize & Manage Multiple Stimuli
5
Questions??
Does Human Society always requires an “Other”?
How Is the “Other” Determined?
How Can “Othering” be Challenged?
How is being a DP Different from Other Minority Groups?
6
WHERE / HOW DOES STIGMA GET IT’S POWER?
Acceptance of the Devalued State
= SHAME
7
Goffman
Specific Stigma Terms: cripple,cripple, moron, handicapped, idiot,moron, handicapped, idiot, etc
Generalize to WHOLE Person:
Expected to up hold the Generalization
8
Goffman: Stigma Management
Discreditable: information control- ("to tell or not to tell, ….to lie or not to lie,
…. to whom, when and where." )
Discredited: tension management – (attempts to control awkward, difficult or
hostile interactions with "the normals.")
9
Discreditable (Management of Information)
Passing: Objective: minimize detection or
disclosure (FDR) 1. Conceal stigma symbols2. Play down the defect3. Distancing (social, physical, emotional)
10
Discredited (Management of Tension)
Covering
1. Use of devices to cover the stigma- Surgery (Only results in Record of
Correcting) 2. Engage in activities from which normally be
disqualified- Being President; One handed baseball
player
Aggressiveness / Deviance
1. “The dramatically presented preposterous explanation”
2. “The attack.”
11The International Center for Limb Lengthening, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore
12
Other Responses to Stigma
Attempt to Directly Correct 1. Overcoming:
Celebrated in Modern Culture
2. Victimization: Learned Helplessness
3. Avoidence: Isolation / Passing Hypervigilance; “The Stare”
4. Re-assessment: Limitations of “normals” Disability Pride; Deaf Culture
13
Goffman: Natural History of the Stigma Experience
1. Acquiring the standpoint of normal
2. Recognize the Stigma
3. “Affiliation Cycles”
4. Group Reinforcement
5. Discovering Humanness
14
Goffman
My Favorite Quote
“Each potential source of discomfort…can become something we sense he is aware of, aware that we are aware of, and even aware of our state of awareness, about his awareness…”
ALWAYS ON!ALWAYS ON!
15
Gill: Differences from Other Minority Groups
1. Public perceptions of Disabled People- a confusing mix of conflicting emotions
Fear, Pity, Charity, Disgust
2. Stigma can be superficially linked to impairments
3. Lack of “Safe Havens“
4. Socialized as “normal”Gill, “Divided Understandings,” Handbook of Disability Studies, Albretch, et al
2000
16
What is Stigmatized
=Reflection of Society
17
EXAMPLES
What is stigmatized now that was not 60 years ago?
What was stigmatized 60 years ago that is not now?
18
Stigma
Can be a very rapid process: Japanese Americans
Destigmatizing: Usually a gradual process taking years / decades
Our Culture Reinforces Stigma through it’s Obsession with Rank Orderings
19
Simulations
20
Several parents in Apopka, Fla., are upset over a surprise school "Holocaust" Several parents in Apopka, Fla., are upset over a surprise school "Holocaust" project according to a Local 6 News report. (project according to a Local 6 News report. (teachers divided the school's 440 teachers divided the school's 440 eighth-graders by last names, issuing yellow stars to those whose names begin with eighth-graders by last names, issuing yellow stars to those whose names begin with L–ZL–Z )
http://www.local6.com/news/8345157/detail.html
21
'Daddy, the only thing I found out today is I don't want to be Jewish,‘
http://www.local6.com/news/8345157/detail.html
22
Douglas 1966Concept of Dirt / “Matter out of
Place.”How Societies Groups or Deals withAmbiguous Margins.
Dirt is an Anomaly - A Discordant
ElementElementPurity & Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (1966)
23
Douglas
Argues that ambiguity proves difficult: Culture involves classification,
dirt is disorder, = breakdown of classification, boundaries are
ambiguous or confused.
There no absolute form of dirt
24
Douglas5 Ways Cultures deal with “dirt”:
1. Reduce Ambiguity (Fuzziness of Otherness) by Creating dichotomies.
2. Elimination. 3. Avoidance 4. Label as dangerous. 5. Incorporating into ritual.
25
1. Reduce AmbiguityCreate Dichotomies:
Disabled / Non-Disabled;
Gay / StraightChild / AdultMale / Female
That which Defies ClassificationEspecially Troublesome to Society:Transvestites, Mulattos, Part Timers, Intersex, Passers, Multiple Impairments
26
2. Elimination
EugenicsHolocaustWarPrenatal TestingHuman Genome ProjectDeath Penalty
27
3. Avoidance OR Strengthen dirty status:
Ugly LawsNot-In-My-Neighborhood Special EducationSuburban FlightPrisonsAsylums
28
4. Label as Dangerous
Bodies / Minds Out of Control
EpilepsyHallucinations
Disturb the complex web of subtle exchanges
29
5. Incorporate
Into Ritual
Special Olympics
Charity / Telethons
30
Summary
I. Stigma & the Individual Stigma Power Stigma Management
Discreditable - information control Discredited - tension management
-(Simulations)-
II. Society & the “Other” Douglas
Concept of Dirt 5 Ways Cultures deal with “dirt”