Fighting stigma

Keeping up-to-date on global exclusion

Stigma

The concept of stigma is quite powerful and multifaceted. It refers to the negative stereotypes and prejudices that society attaches to certain characteristics, behaviors, or groups of people. This can lead to discrimination, social exclusion, and reduced opportunities for those affected. Stigma can be related to various aspects such as mental health, physical disabilities, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and more.

Combating stigma involves promoting understanding, empathy, and acceptance. It's about challenging harmful stereotypes and creating a more inclusive society where everyone feels valued and respected. Education, open dialogue, and advocacy play crucial roles in this process.


Stigma refers to negative attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors towards a group of people based on their situation in life. It often involves discrimination, prejudice, judgment, and stereotypes, which can isolate and marginalize individuals.

Stigma can manifest in various forms, including:

Stigma can have significant negative consequences for individuals and communities, including:

Addressing stigma requires a multi-faceted approach that involves:

By working together, we can challenge stigma and create a more inclusive and equitable society for all.

Stigma refers to a negative perception, label, or discrimination attached to a particular person, group, or characteristic. It often involves societal rejection or prejudice based on attributes like mental health conditions, physical appearance, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or social class. Stigma can affect an individual's identity, well-being, and access to resources or opportunities, leading to isolation, shame, and sometimes a reluctance to seek help or engage in social interactions.

There are different types of stigma:

Overcoming stigma requires societal education, awareness, and open conversations to challenge harmful stereotypes and promote understanding.

Stigma may be described as a label that associates a person to a set of unwanted characteristics that form a stereotype. It is also affixed. Once people identify and label one's differences, others will assume that is just how things are and the person will remain stigmatized until the stigmatizing attribute is undetectable. A considerable amount of generalization is required to create groups, meaning that people will put someone in a general group regardless of how well the person actually fits into that group. However, the attributes that society selects differ according to time and place. What is considered out of place in one society could be the norm in another. When society categorizes individuals into certain groups the labeled person is subjected to status loss and discrimination. Society will start to form expectations about those groups once the cultural stereotype is secured.

Stigma may affect the behavior of those who are stigmatized. Those who are stereotyped often start to act in ways that their stigmatizers expect of them. It not only changes their behavior, but it also shapes their emotions and beliefs. Members of stigmatized social groups often face prejudice that causes depression (i.e. deprejudice). These stigmas put a person's social identity in threatening situations, such as low self-esteem. Because of this, identity theories have become highly researched. Identity threat theories can go hand-in-hand with labeling theory. 

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