What is stigma. The reasons for its occurrence in society and prevention. Examples of negative influences and consequences of stigma in everyday life. Stigma (from the Greek "stigma" - "stigma") is the process of applying a stigma. In the modern world, this concept is associated with stereotypes and negative social labels. A person who differs in some physical, moral or other characteristic from the majority of the society in which he lives is endowed with stigma. Vivid examples: "All blondes are stupid", "I wore a short skirt, so I am a whore", "Lefties are abnormal", etc.
Causes of stigma
It is natural for a person to give labels, he does this solely out of protective motives in order to easily and quickly navigate in the world around him. Patterns and stereotypes are a collection of knowledge and experience of each individual for a more comfortable interaction with reality. Stigmatization of society is the hanging of social, moral, psychological negative characteristics (labels) on an individual or even a community, in contrast to the stereotypes with which we endow objects and phenomena of the real world and which help us to live.
One of the most important differences between stigma and preconceived notions is emotional overtones. The brand is always bright, its color is negative and destructive.
The main reasons for stigmatization include:
- Negative cultural traditions and myths. Mental disorders have long been associated with "possession by evil spirits," hence the fear and hostility on the part of society.
- Lack of awareness of a particular “sin” that causes stigmatization. As a rule, people are afraid of what they do not know. Poor awareness of the ways of contracting diseases such as hepatitis C, HIV or tuberculosis gives people suffering from this disease the labels “addict”, “alcoholic”, “homosexual”.
- The prevailing negative stereotype. For example: “traffic cops are bribe-takers”, “women drive badly”, etc.
- Low social and cultural level of society. The lower the quality of life, general education and culture of people, the greater the number of stigmatized population. Prisons or schools are a prime example. In these places, stigmatization becomes the basis of the perception of the world. In the first case, because in prisons there are mainly people with a very low social status. And schools are places for getting education and culture, here are adolescents of transitional age during the period of personality formation.
The main types of stigma
There are several types of stigmatization: physical, psychological, social, cultural or ethnic. Let's consider in detail each type of such a phenomenon.
Physical stigma
Physical stigma refers to the attribution of stigma to persons with disabilities, congenital or acquired. For example, when a blind person speaks louder, although he hears perfectly, or mentally ill people who try to avoid, considering them unpredictable and dangerous. The theory of stigma in psychiatry has become widespread. Its essence lies in the fact that people with mental disorders are more exposed to social stigma than others. According to doctors themselves, even minor disorders lead to the labeling of social unreliability. This interferes with the normal adaptation of such people in society. Often, a person with even a minor mental illness suffers more from prejudice from others than from the symptoms of the illness itself. Polls in the United States have shown that people are reluctant to work with former psychiatric patients, spend time with them, and start families.
This also includes people with all incurable diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis. People with these diseases are immediately assigned the "title" of a social outsider, drug addict, alcoholic, etc.
Psychological stigmatization
Psychological stigmatization is a phenomenon in which a person himself endows himself with some kind of stigma. For example, "I am fat, and no one likes fat ones", "I am short, and girls love tall ones." Often, psychological stigma appears against the background of a physical illness. Let's say a person thinks that he is a weak disabled person with whom no one wants to start a family. The problem is that a person with such a stigma begins to hide from society as from a stressor, feel sorry for himself, limit and blame all failures on his stigma. Very often this is observed among war veterans who were injured, limiting their ability to move, or, more simply, became disabled. They are determined to fail, or even completely abandon attempts to do anything, winding themselves up: "I'm a disabled person, I won't succeed, nobody needs me because I'm a burden." The same thing happens with overweight girls. They either fixate on their appearance and lead a reclusive lifestyle, avoiding communication with the opposite sex, or bring themselves to anorexia. Thus, stigma becomes the cause of self-flagellation and self-destruction.
Social stigmatization
Social stigmatization is a phenomenon when a person is “stigmatized” based on his position in society.
The most prominent example of this type of stigma is ex-convicts. After leaving the correctional institution, these people continue to be viewed as criminals, "anything can be expected from him," "there are no ex-convicts." As is the case with the mentally ill.
It is very difficult for those released to adapt to public life. They remain in the "gallery of society" or end up in correctional colonies again. In most cases, due to the inability to build a normal life. And here you can already see how social stigmatization turns into a psychological one. This category includes orphans living in orphanages, they are very often, although it is outwardly condemned, the title of "future criminals" is assigned in absentia.
Another example: a girl who has not married before the age of 25 is "an old maid and nobody needs it." Representatives of non-traditional orientation are very strongly stigmatized. People living in villages and towns are considered to be "narrow-minded".
Cultural stigma
Social stigmatization is widely represented in the ethnic context: “Jews are cunning”, “Russians are fools”, “Ukrainians are greedy”, “Germans are fascists”, “Negroes are drug addicts and criminals”. In principle, any anecdote, and satire too, is a ridicule of the stigma of a person or a whole social group. Stigma often gives rise to discrimination: ethnic, racial and even gender. The scale of the tragedies, which were based on prejudices about the imperfection of a particular people, gender, are very clearly visible in the history of mankind. Crusades, slavery led to the destruction of many people, even entire nations.
During the time of the Inquisition, many women were labeled "witch", and it was not necessary to do anything especially in order to be subjected to torture and torture.
The human impact of stigma
All people with stigma have similar behaviors. Ashamed of their "imperfection", they seek to avoid society, hide the presence of a "vice" in themselves, justify everything with their "shortcoming".
Such people are afraid to be criticized, often they build their lives in such a way as to correspond as much as possible to the concept of a "normal person".
An individual with stigma hides the presence of it in himself, thus destroying his life. The meaning and purpose of existence is the desire so that no one would guess that he has a disadvantage that discredits him. As a result, neuroses, depressive states appear, the personality becomes withdrawn, various kinds of psychosomatic diseases develop. And worst of all, it can lead to suicide.
An example of the negative consequences of hiding stigma is a longitudinal study that showed that the degree of progression of AIDS among homosexual men who did not hide their sexual orientation is much lower than among those who did their best to hide their homosexuality from others.
Sometimes you can observe "positive" manifestations of stigma. For example, when a boxer is praised for his intelligence, uncharacteristic for a given sport, or vice versa, a chess player is praised for his strength. This kind of "compliment" can offend much more than traditional forms of discrimination.
Features of prevention of stigmatization in society
Whatever the phenomenon, the point is that from early childhood we teach our children to hang labels, telling them that "this uncle is a stranger and dangerous", "do not be friends with this boy, he is bad." Of course, people want to protect and protect their children from trouble, but the form in which this is done is important. Usually we have neither words nor desire to explain to the baby why we warn him against communicating with a stranger. We simply put in his memory a negative experience, a ready-made construct "stranger-bad". Parents do not explain to their child why they do not want him to be friends with one of his peers in the yard, and what he did wrong, but simply hang a label that is beyond doubt.
And already at school, you can observe the fruits of your upbringing, when any child who is at least something unlike others is subjected to stigmatization.
Preventive measures include the following:
- General humanization of society … This should happen from childhood in the family, then in educational institutions. It is necessary to form such qualities as tolerance and loyalty. Now, for example, schools are introducing inclusive education. This means that classes are being introduced in which ordinary children and "children with special needs" study.
- Enlightenment and raising the general culture of society and the social standard of living … It is not a secret for anyone that it is the everyday disorder, the lack of education and culture that often pushes people towards a "vicious lifestyle", unless, of course, we are talking about congenital ailments. People should be aware of examples when a person with stigma develops, succeeds and becomes quite happy. The famous Albert Einstein, as well as the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Bell, suffered from mental retardation. Thomas Edison couldn't read until he was 12. The famous English physicist Stephen Hawking lost his ability to walk and was speechless. They all became famous and successful in life.
- Raising awareness of stigmatizing factors … Here we are talking about legal, medical, psychological awareness. Simply put, people need to know “what is good and what is bad,” what self-stigmatizing or socially labeling others leads to. Everyone should be aware of the degree of responsibility for their words and actions, so that a sense of belonging in relation to the world around them is formed, and the person does not close in his "shell", pretending that "this does not concern me."
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Thus, we have found out what are the consequences of stigmatization for society. Therefore, it is important to pay attention in time to preventive measures aimed at preventing this phenomenon.
