DATA: STUDENTĂ: 18 IANUARIE 2019 COVERCĂ FRANCESCA-NICOLE Erving Goffman was an American sociologist and author [615567]

UNIVERSITATEA DIN BUCURE
Ș
TI

FACULTATEA DE SOCIOLOGIE
Ș
I ASISTEN
Ț
Ă SOCIALĂ

SPECIALIZAREA SOCIOLOGIE

ERVING GOFFMAN – STIGMA

“DEVIATIONS AND DEVIANCE”

DATA: STUDENTĂ:

18 IANUARIE 2019 COVERCĂ FRANCESCA-NICOLE

Erving
Goffman
was
an
American
sociologist
and
author
from
Canada.
He
was
born
in

1922
in
Mannville,
Alberta,
Canada
and
died
in
1982
in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
In
2007
he

was
listed
as
the
6th
the
most
quoted
intellectual
in
the
human
and
social
sciences
by
“The
Times

Higher Education Guide”.

In
​
Stigma:
Notes
on
the
Management
of
Spoiled
Identity
​
(1963),
Erving
Goffman
talks

about
the
shame
that
people
feel
when
they
fail
to
meet
other
people’s
standards
and
the
fear
of

being
discredited,
which
makes
individuals
not
to
reveal
their
imperfections.
Here,
Goffman
uses

especially
autobiographies
and
case
studies
to
analyse
stigmatised
people’s
feelings
about

themselves
and
their
relationships
with
“normal”
people.
He
investigates
the
methods
that

stigmatised people use to tackle the rejection of others.

In
the
last
chapter,
​
Deviations
and
Deviance
​
,
Erving
Goffman
talks
about
“the
dynamics

of shameful differentness” (Goffman Erving, 1963) seen as a common attribute of social life.

In
some
small,
close
groups,
confirmed
positive
positions
may
be
correlated
with

deviations,
while
in
large
groups,
the
eminent
may
find
he
has
to
fully
comply
with
the
norms
of

the
group
he
is
part
of.
The
situation
is
somewhat
similar
in
case
of
ca
physically
sick
member
if

he
is
too
concerned
with
his
sickness
status.
Therefore,
the
eminent
and
the
sick
member
can
be

free
to
be
deviators
since
their
deviance
can
be
completely
reduced,
which
does
not
lead
to
a
new

identification.

Almost
every
small
group
or
community
has
cases
of
deviation
and
the
deviator
plays
a

special
role,
becoming
a
kind
of
group
emblem,
even
if
he
does
not
have
the
respect
accorded
to

full-fledged
members.
This
person
is
regarded
as
a
mascot
of
the
group
although
he
or
she
is

competent
to
be
a
normal
member
of
it.
“The
village
idiot,
the
smil-town
drunk
and
the
platoon

clown
are
traditional
examples.”
(Goffman
Erving,
1963).
He
can
be
called
an
“in-group

deviant”
to
point
out
that
he
is
deviant
corresponding
to
a
specific
group,
not
only
norms.
When

the
in-group
deviant
is
attacked
by
those
outside
the
group,
the
other
members
can
support
him,

but when the isolation group is attacked, he is more likely to do his own fight.

It
has
been
proposed
that
in
small
group,
the
in-group
deviant
can
be
distinguished
from

the
other
deviators
because
he
is
inclined
towards
the
moral
life
that
members
support
on

1

average.
When
the
reference
system
is
transferred
from
a
local
community
to
the
entire
world,

there is a significant change in the assortment and sense of deviations.

2