Framework Essay (Stigma)

In the final section on stigma in the “Framework Essay” from The Meaning of Difference, Rosenblum and Travis conclude that people are being stigmatized based on categories they belong to such as their race, sex, sexual orientation, and social class category. These stigmatized groups are often viewed as being the cause of our society’s problems.

Rosenblum and Travis begin their argument by stating that this stigmatism is supported by the assumption that the outside appearance of a person is an indication of their internal merit. The authors argue that we, as a society, view physically attractive people as being good people and give those in acceptable categories more opportunities than those who are not members of these categories. They go on to state that stigma involves two key characteristics, objectification and devaluation. Objectification occurs when all members of a particular group are thought of being alike and viewed as nothing more than objects. Oftentimes, members of the stigmatized groups objectify themselves. We are given the example of a woman looking in a mirror and imaging how other people view her. She is viewing herself as nothing more than an object. The authors also address how a female possessing male attributes is much more acceptable than a male possessing female attributes. The section then goes on to describe several stereotypes about people in stigmatized groups and states that some groups such as teenagers are blamed for the problems our society is facing.

As previously stated, Rosenblum and Travis point out five stereotypes of people in stigmatized groups. They state lack of values, likely seen as a problem, lack of self control, too much or too little intelligence, and childlike and savagely. I have a bit of a problem with how the authors handled these stereotypes. Although I agree that they are unjustly given, I believe the authors would have been more effective if they gave potential reasons as to why such stereotypes were given and then logically dismissed them. Instead, they just kind of set them out there without going into any explanation with the exception of the Asian American students.

Overall, I felt as if the reading was a very accurate account of what is happening in our society today. Without a doubt, people are being stigmatized based on categories they belong to. It was easy for me to see how stigma involves objectification. Our society very clearly does objectify women, not that this is new to me, but this reading brought that to my attention once again. The stereotypes also confirmed what I have previously noticed of our society. Certain groups in our society are definitely viewed in the stereotypical ways the authors presented.