Managing Deviant identity

Goffman: Notes on Spoiled Identity

Question: How do people manage deviance once it becomes a part of who they are?

One Answer: Linguistically

Another Answer: Controlling access to information about the part of themselves that is judged as deviant

Managing Deviant identity

Depending on the basis of one’s deviance, some are able to manipulate the amount of information that becomes “public”

Ultimately this process is about identity management and shame

Goffman’s conceptual schema:Discreditable vs. Discrediting Stigmata

Managing Stigma

• Discrediting Stigma– Unable to be hidden– Visible– Examples?

Managing Stigma

• Discreditable Stigma– Concealable– May be hidden or obscured– Implies that people have some agency (i.e.,

choice) in their interactions with others– You might think of choosing not to reveal

discreditable stigma as an option to “pass” or to “cover”

– Examples of discreditable stigma?

Managing Discreditable StigmaHow is passing done?

• Dis-identifiers• Avoiding stigma symbols

How is covering done?• Linguistic devices (Disclaimers & Accounts)

Are there times you can think of (or from the readings) when people might intentionally decide not to pass or cover?

• Preventive disclosure• Therapeutic disclosure• Collective Stigma Management, Political

Motivation, Tertiary Deviance

Stigma Management

• The Role of Others:

Deviance Disavowal

Groups and social support:

• Expressive

• Instrumental (Tertiary Deviance - Kitsuse)