Goffman Erving Stigma (1963) London, Penguin

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support : those who share his stigma and by virtue of this are defined and define
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P.
themselves as his own kind. The second set are to borrow a term once used by homosexuals
the `wise', namely, persons who are normal but whose special situation has made them
intimately privy to the secret life of the stigmatized individual and sympathetic with it, and who
find themselves accorded a measure of acceptance, a measure of courtesy membership in the
clan. Wise persons are the marginal men before whom the individual with a fault need feel no
shame nor exert self-control, knowing that in spite of his failing he will be seen as an ordinary
other. An example may be cited from the world of prostitutes :
Although she sneers at respectability, the prostitute, particularly the call girl, is supersensitive
in polite society, taking refuge in her off hours with Bohemian artists, writers, actors and would-
be intellectuals. There she may be accepted as an off-beat personality, without being a
curiosity.55
Before taking the standpoint of those with a particular stigma, the normal person who is
becoming wise may first have to pass through a heart-changing personal experience, of which
there are many literary records.be And after the sympathetic normal makes himself available to
the stigmatized, he often must wait their validation of him as a courtesy member. The self must
not only be offered, it must be accepted. Sometimes, of course, the final step does seem to be
initiated by the normal; the following is an example of this.
((footnote))
55.J. Steam, Sisters of the Night, New York, Popular Library, I961,
181.
56.N. Mailer, 'The Homosexual Villain', in Advertisements for Myself, New York, Signet
Books, 1960, pp. 200-205, provides a model confession detailing the basic cycle of bigotry,
enlightening experience, and, finally, recantation of prejudice through public admission.
See also Angus Wilson's introduction to Carling, op. cit., for a confessional record of
Wilson's redefinition of cripples.
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I don't know whether I can or not, but let me tell of an incident. I was once admitted to a
group of Negro boys of about my own age with whom I used to fish. When I first began to join
them, they would carefully use the term `Negro' in my presence. Gradually, as we went fishing
more and more often, they began to joke with each other in front of me and to call each other
`nigger'. The real change was in their utilization of the word `nigger' when joking after the
previous inability to use the word `nigger' at all.
One day when we were swimming, a boy shoved me with mock violence and I said to him,
`Don't give me that nigger talk.'
He replied, `You bastard,' with a big grin.
From that time on, we could all use the word `nigger' but the old categories had totally
changed. Never, as long as I live, will I forget the way my stomach felt after I used the word
`nigger' without any reservation."
One type of wise person is he whose wiseness comes from working in an establishment which
caters either to the wants of those with a particular stigma or to actions that society takes in
regard to these persons. For example, nurses and physical therapists can be wise; they can come
to know more about a given type of prosthetic equipment than the patient who must learn to use
it so as to minimize his disfigurement. Gentile employees in delicatessens are often wise, as are
straight bartenders in homosexual bars, and the maids of Mayfair prostitutes." The police, in
constantly having to deal with criminals, may become wise in regard to them, leading a
professional to suggest that `... in fact the police are the only people apart from other criminals
who accept you for what you are.' 59
((footnote))
57.Ray Birdwhistell in B. Schaffner, ed., Group Processes, Transactions of the Second
(1955) Conference, New York, Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1956, p. 171.
58.C. H. Rolph, ed., Women of the Streets, London, Secker and Warburg, 1955, PP- 78-79-
59.Parker and Allerton, op. cit., p. 150.
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A second type of wise person is the individual who is related through the social structure to a
stigmatized individual a relationship that leads the wider society to treat both individuals in
some respects as one. Thus the loyal spouse of the mental patient, the daughter of the ex-con,
the parent of the cripple, the friend of the blind, the family of the hangman,60 are all obliged to
share some of the discredit of the stigmatized person to whom they are related. One response to
this fate is to embrace it, and to live within the world of one's stigmatized connexion. It should
be added that persons who acquire a degree of stigma in this way can themselves have
connexions who acquire a little of the disease twice-removed. The problems faced by
stigmatized persons spread out in waves, but of diminishing intensity. A newspaper advice
column provides an illustration :
Dear Ann Landers:
I'm a girl 12 years old who is left out of all social activities be-cause my father is an ex-
convict. I try to be nice and friendly to everyone but it's no use. The girls at school have told me
that their mothers don't want them to associate with me because it will be bad for their
reputations. My father had some bad publicity in the papers and even though he has served his
time nobody will. forget it.
Is there anything I can do? I am very lonesome because it's no fun to be alone all the time. My
mother tries to take me places with her but I want to be with people my own age. Please give me
some
advice AN OUTCAST.61
In general, the tendency for a stigma to spread from the stigmatized individual to his close
connexions provides a reason why such relations tend either to be avoided or to be terminated,
where existing.
((footnote))
6o. J. Atholl, The Reluctant Hangman, London, John Long, Ltd, 1956, p. 61.
61.Berkeley Daily Gazette, 12 April i961.
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Persons with a courtesy stigma provide a model of `normalization',eg showing how far
normals could go in treating the stigmatized person as if he didn't have a stigma. (Normalization
is to be distinguished from `normification', namely, the effort on the part of a stigmatized
individual to present himself as an ordinary person, although not necessarily making a secret of
his failing.) Further, a cult of the stigmatized can occur, the stigmaphobic response of the
normal being countered by the stigmaphile response of the wise. The person with a courtesy
stigma can in fact make both the stigmatized and the normal uncomfortable : by always being [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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