STIGMA

Catalog description

Not open to those with credit for SOCY/ANTH 4685. Studying social stigma allows us to understand how specific cultural value systems affect our most intimate sense of self, contribute to notions of personhood, and inform the way we communicate and engage with others in the world. The class focuses on the various strategies available for managing and/or defying social stigma in the United States. The theoretical centerpiece of the course is Irving Goffman's 1963 study Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Readings are wide ranging including cultural constructs of disease, addition, sexual deviance, deformity and dementia. Critical analysis will focus on social institutions, the media, and popular culture.