Short and very good. I may have to read more Goffman.

An interesting look at cultural norms and those who can not or do not meet them. ( )

Erving Goffman's (1963) book Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity inspired a profusion of research on the nature, sources, and consequences of stigma. Both PsychInfo and Medline show dramatic increases in the number of articles mentioning the word stigma in their titles or abstracts from 1980 (PsychInfo 14, Medline 19) to 1990 (PsychInfo 81, Medline 48) to 1999 (PsychInfo 161, Medline 114). Many more recent authors quote Goffman's definition of stigma as an "attribute that is deeply discrediting" and that reduces the bearer "from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one" (Goffman 1963, p. 3).

According to Goffman, hospitals, prisons, boarding schools, etc. are "total institutions," which he defines as having these characteristics: Activities are conducted in the same place under a single authority; daily life is carried out in the immediate company of others; life is tightly scheduled and fixed by a set of formal rules; and all activities are designed to fulfill the official aims of the institution. Goffman describes the "encompassing tendencies" of total institutions that bar their "inmates" from outside influences.

The concept of stigma refers to negative social meanings or stereotypes assigned to a people when their attributes are considered both different from or inferior to societal norms (Goffman, 1963). A major characteristic of stigma is that it is instrumental in restricting a person's ability to develop his or her potential. In the case of people labeled with mental retardation, negative social meanings or stereotypes are assigned to them on the basis of others' awareness of their cognitive challenges. Typical stereotypes assigned to them include being incapable of thinking or speaking for themselves, being unable to live independently, and being unable to become employed in the competitive work world.