Abstract
This paper adds to the literature on labeling and stigma by focusing on the positive effects, benefits and rewards of possessing a stigma or identity mark. Through an examination of chronic and non-chronic ex-psychiatric patients and involuntarily childless females, we illustrate that such positive responses include: the legitimation of deviant behavior and the deviant role; exemption from normal social roles and obligations; provision of interpersonal and social opportunities; strengthening of familial relationships; opportunities for career growth and change; and personal growth experiences. These specific responses are divided into three generic categories of positive responses to negative labeling: therapeutic opportunities, personal growth experiences, and interpersonal opportunities. We also develop a typology of labeling which incorporates positive and negative labeling and the positive and negative consequences which follow.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albrecht, Gary, Vivian Walker, & Judith Levy, 1982. Social distance from the stigmatized: A test of two theories. “Social Science and Medicine” 16:1319–1327.
Bachrach, Christine, 1983. Children in families: Characteristics of biological, step-, and adopted children. “Journal of Marriage and the Family” 45: 171–179.
Becker, Howard, 1973. “Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance,” Rev. ed. New York: Free Press.
Birenbaum, Arnold, 1975. On managing a courtesy stigma. pp. 347–357. In “Deviance: Action, reaction, interaction.” Frank Scarpitti & Paul McFarlane (eds.). Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.
Birenbaum, Arnold & Edward Sagarin, 1976. “Norms and human behavior.” New York: Praeger.
Burgwyn, Diana, 1981. “Marriage without children.” New York: Harper & Row.
Couch, Carl, 1984. Symbolic interaction and generic sociological principles. “Symbolic Interaction” 7:1–14.
Davis, Fred, 1961. Deviance disavowal: The management of strained interaction by the visibly handicapped. “Social Problems” 9:120–132.
Davis, Danette, 1975. “Sociological constructions of deviance.” Iowa: W. C. Brown Company.
Dear, Michael, 1987. “Landscapes of despair: From deinstitutionalization to homelessness.” Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Edgerton, Robert, 1967. “The cloak of competence: Stigma in the lives of the mentally retarded.” Berkeley: University of California Press.
Freidson, Elliot, 1966. Disability as social deviance. pp. 71–99. In “Sociology and rehabilitation.” Marvin Sussman (ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association.
Goffman, Erving, 1963. “Stigma.” New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Gove, Walter, 1976. Social reaction theory and disability. pp. 51–71. In “The sociology of physical disability and rehabilitation.” Gary Albrecht (ed.). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Gramling, Robert & Craig Forsyth, 1987. Exploiting stigma. “Sociological Forum” 2:401–415.
Haber, Lawrence & Richard Smith, 1971. Disability and deviance: Normative adaptations of role behavior. “American Sociological Review” 36:87–97.
Hanks, Michael & Dennis Poplin, 1981. The sociology of physical disability: A review of literature and some conceptual perspectives. “Deviant Behavior” 2: 309–328.
Herman, Nancy, 1986. Crazies in the community: An ethnographic study of ex-psychiatric clients in Canadian society — Stigma, management strategies, and identity transformation. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
Herman, Nancy, 1987. The “mixed nutters” and “looney tuners”: The emergence, development, nature and functions of two informal deviant subcultures of chronic ex-psychiatric patients. “Deviant Behavior” 8:235–258.
Herman, Nancy, 1988. The chronic elderly mentally ill in Canada. pp. 111–121 in “The North American elders: A comparison of U.S. and Canadian issues.” Betty Havens & Edward Rathbone-McCuan (eds.). New Haven: Greenwood Press.
Herman, Nancy, 1989. Mental hospital depopulation in Canada: Patient perspectives. “Canadian Journal of Psychiatry” 34:386–391.
Herman, Nancy, 1990. “Crazies in the community: An ethnographic study of the post-hospital worlds of chronic and non-chronic ex-patients.” New York: General Hall. Forthcoming.
Kraft, Adrienne, Joseph Palombo, Dorena Mitchell, Catherine Dean, Steven Meyers, & Anne Wright-Schmidt., 1980. The psychological dimensions of infertility. “American Journal of Orthopsychiatry” 50:618–628.
Krause, E., 1976. The political sociology of rehabilitation. pp. 201–221 in “The sociology of physical disability and rehabilitation.” Gary Albrecht (ed.). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Levitin, Teresa, 1975. Deviants as active participants in the labeling process: The case of the visibly handicapped. “Social Problems” 22:548–557.
Link, Bruce, 1987. Understanding labeling effects in the area of mental disorders: An assessment of the effects of expectations of rejection. “American Sociological Review” 52:96–112.
Link, Bruce & Francis Cullen, 1986. Contact with the mentally ill and perceptions of how dangerous they are. “Journal of Health and Social Behavior” 27:289–302.
Link, Bruce, Francis Cullen, James Frank, & John Wozniak, 1987. The social rejection of former mental patients: Understanding why labels matter. “American Journal of Sociology” 92:1461–1500.
Link, Bruce, Francis Cullen, Elmer Struening, Patrick Shrout, & Bruch Dohrenwend, 1989. A modified labeling theory approach to mental disorders. “American Sociological Review” 54:400–423.
Lofland, John, 1970. Interactionist imagery and analytic interruptus. pp. 35–45. In “Human nature and collective behavior: Papers in honor of Herbert Blumer.” Tamotsu Shibutani (ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Lorber, Judith, 1967. Deviance as performance: The case of illness. “Social Problems” 14:302–310.
Manning, Peter, 1975. Deviance and dogma. “The British Journal of Criminology” 15:1–20.
Miall, Charlene, 1984. Women and involuntary childlessness: Perceptions of stigma associated with infertility and adoption. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, York University, Toronto, Canada.
Miall, Charlene, 1985. Perceptions of informal sanctioning and the stigma of involuntary childlessness. “Deviant Behavior” 6:383–403.
Miall, Charlene, 1986. The stigma of involuntary childlessness. “Social Problems” 33:268–282.
Miall, Charlene, 1987. The stigma of adoptive parent status: Perceptions of community attitudes toward adoption and the experience of informal social sanctioning. “Family Relations” 36:34–39.
Miall, Charlene, 1989. Authenticity and the disclosure of the information preserve: The case of adoptive parenthood. “Qualitative Sociology” 12:279–302.
Miyamato, Frank, 1959. The social act: Re-examination of a concept. “Pacific Sociological Review” 2:51–55.
Mosher, William, 1982. Infertility trends among U.S. couples: 1965–1976. “Family Planning Perspectives” 14:22–27.
Nagi, Saad, 1966. Some conceptual issues in disability and rehabilitation. pp. 100–113. In “Sociology and rehabilitation.” Marvin Sussman (ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association.
National Center for Health Statistics, 1985. Fecundity and infertility in the United States, 1965–82. “Advance data from vital and health statistics,” No. 104, DHHS Pub. No. (PHS) 85-1250. Public Health Service. Hyattsville, MD. February.
Parsons, Talcott, 1951. “The social system.” New York: Free Press.
Plummer, Kenneth, 1979. Misunderstanding labeling perspectives. pp. 85–121 in “Deviant interpretations.” David Downes & Paul Roch (esds.). Oxford: Martin Robertson & Company.
Prus, Robert, 1985. Generic sociology: Maximizing conceptual development in ethnographic research. Paper presented at the Qualitative research conference: An ethnographic-interactionist perspective. University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. May.
Rogers, Joseph & M. D. Buffalo, 1974. Fighting back: Nine modes of adaptation to a deviant label. “Social Problems” 22:101–118.
Safilios-Rothschild, Constatina, 1970. “The sociology and social psychology of disability and rehabilitation.” New York: Random House.
Sagarin, Edward, 1975. “Deviants and deviance.” New York: Praeger.
Scheff, Thomas, 1966. “Being mentally ill: A sociological theory.” Chicago, Illinois: Aldine.
Scheff, Thomas, 1967. “Mental illness and social processes.” New York: Harper & Row.
Scheff, Thomas, 1975. “Labeling madness.” New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Scheff, Thomas, 1981. Cultural stereotypes and mental illness. pp. 84–88 in “Deviance: The interactionist perspective.” Earl Rublington & Martin Weinberg (eds.). New York: MacMillan.
Schneider, Joseph & Peter Conrad, 1980. In the closet with illness: Epilepsy, stigma potential and information control. “Social Problems” 28:32–44.
Schur, Edwin, 1979. “Interpreting deviance.” New York: Harper & Row.
Scott, Martin & Stanford Lyman, 1968. Accounts. “American Sociological Review” 33:46–62.
Tannenbaum, Frank, 1938. “Crime and the community.” Boston: Ginn.
Veevers, Jean, 1972. The violation of fertility mores: Voluntary childlessness as deviant behavior. pp. 571–592. In: Deviant behavior and societal reaction.” Craig Boydell, Carl Grindstaff & Paul Whitehead (eds.). Toronto: Holt, Reinehart & Winston.
Veevers, Jean, 1979. Voluntary childlessness: A review of issues and evidence. “Marriage and Family Review” 2:1–26.
Veevers, Jean, 1980. “Childless by choice.” Toronto: Butterworth.
Warren, Carol, 1974. The use of stigmatizing social labels in conventionalizing deviant behavior. “Sociology and Social Research” 58:303–311.
Warren, Carol, 1987. “Madwives: Schizophrenic women in the 1950's.” London: Rutgers University Press.
Warren, Carol & John Johnson, 1972. A critique of labeling theory from the phenomenological perspective. pp. 69–92. In “Theoretical perspectives on deviance.” Robert Scott & Jack Douglas (eds.). New York: Basic Books.
Additional information
This is a revision of a paper presented at the 1988 annual meetings of the North Central Sociological Association, Pittsburgh, PA. The research was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and from the Government of Ontario, Canada. Correspondence should be directed to Dr. Nancy J. Herman, Department of Sociology, Central Michigan University, Anspach/140, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, U.S.A. 48859; or Dr. Charlene E. Miall, Department of Sociology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M4. We wish to thank Dr. Harry Mika and the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Herman, N.J., Miall, C.E. The positive consequences of stigma: Two case studies in mental and physical disability. Qual Sociol 13, 251–269 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00989596
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00989596