Intrapsychic effects of stigma: a process of breakdown and reconstruction of social reality

Being stigmatized has intrapsychic consequences for the individual. Two aspects of the process by which these consequences occur are described: a breakdown of the person's systems of interpretation and valuation, which may lead to reality shock; and a reconstruction of those systems that takes into account the stigmatized characteristic. The latter aspect is associated with frequently noted sequels to stigma, including identity reconstruction, changes in affiliative patterns, and revisions of long-range plans and goals. Key elements in both major aspects are the master-status character of stigma or, in other words, its being a status that takes precedence over all others; the widespread knowledge of stereotypes associated with a given stigma; and the actual and imagined responses of others. The data are from an ethnographic study of a homosexual community, but the intrapsychic processes described may occur in conjunction with any stigma acquired after normative socialization, including stigmas resulting from a characteristic viewed by others as inappropriate for a status occupied by the individual, such as a black or female professional.