Culture and stigma: adding moral experience to stigma theory.

By Lawrence H. Yang, A. Kleinman, Bruce G. Link, J. Phelan, Sing Lee, B. Good. Social Science & Medicine (1967), 2007

1,236 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Definitions and theoretical models of the stigma construct have gradually progressed from an individualistic focus towards an emphasis on stigma's social aspects. Building on other theorists' notions of stigma as a social, interpretive, or cultural process, this paper introduces the notion of stigma as an essentially moral issue in which stigmatized conditions threaten what is at stake for sufferers. The concept of moral experience, or what is most at stake for actors in a local social world, provides a new interpretive lens by which to understand the behaviors of both the stigmatized and stigmatizers, for it allows an examination of both as living with regard to what really matters and what is threatened. We hypothesize that stigma exerts its core effects by threatening the loss or diminution of what is most at stake, or by actually diminishing or destroying that lived value. We utilize two case examples of stigma--mental illness in China and first-onset schizophrenia patients in the United States--to illustrate this concept. We further utilize the Chinese example of 'face' to illustrate stigma as having dimensions that are moral-somatic (where values are linked to physical experiences) and moral-emotional (values are linked to emotional states). After reviewing literature on how existing stigma theory has led to a predominance of research assessing the individual, we conclude by outlining how the concept of moral experience may inform future stigma measurement. We propose that by identifying how stigma is a moral experience, new targets can be created for anti-stigma intervention programs and their evaluation. Further, we recommend the use of transactional methodologies and multiple perspectives and methods to more fully capture the interpersonal core of stigma as framed by theories of moral experience.

Subfields: General Health Professions, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/52f3c58818d79d3db0866438e9d6d87120d95586

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In General Health Professions

In Social Psychology

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Citations in the corpus

Mental Health Stigma in the Muslim Community (2013, neutral): “However, while stigma as a broad construct can be identified across cultures, influences, dimensions and consequences vary substantially within local context (Yang et al., 2007).”
The Impact of Mental Illness Stigma on Seeking and Participating in Mental Health Care (2014, background): “Despite Abdullah and Brown’s (2011) review, the relationship between culture and stigma is complex (Yang et al., 2007).”
Stigma and prejudice: one animal or two? (2008, background): “Broad or local cultural values influence what characteristics are most likely to be targeted for stigma and prejudice and which social values are most threatened for targets (Yang et al., 2007).”
Mental disorders in the entrepreneurship context : When Being Different Can Be an Advantage (2018, background): “19 less institutional discrimination against entrepreneurs with mental disorders (Yang et al., 2007).”
Stigmatization of Sex Offenders (2012, background): “A stigma denotes an individual as different and inferior, and those who are stigmatized are confronted with threats to ‘‘the loss of diminution of what is most at stake, or by actually diminishing or destroying that lived value’’ (Yang et al. 2007:1524).”
Correlates and consequences of internalized stigma for people living with mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2010, background): “The strength of this definition is that it recognizes the macro-socio-cultural forces that influence this subjective, individualized process (Yang et al., 2007).”
Countries and Cultural Differences in the Stigma of Mental Illness: The East–West Divide (2020, background): “Because research has demonstrated that attributions, prejudice, and discrimination toward mental illness are interrelated (Pescosolido & Martin, 2015; Stefanovics et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2007), the current work explored the possibility that cultural differences in attributions about the etiology ”