Sociologyspeaking topic
Goffman's concept of stigma: when society labels one of our traits a 'flaw', why does our whole identity get crushed under it? Is the flaw in the person who carries the stigma, or in the society that attaches it?
— Erving Goffman, stigma
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- Simmel's figure of the stranger: why can the person who is both inside and outside the group be at once a threat and the most impartial confidant?
- Becker's concept of the moral entrepreneur: behind every act declared a 'crime' or a 'disgrace', is there always someone campaigning to make it so? Who makes the rules, and why do the rules serve them?
- The human brain can only genuinely keep track of about 150 people. Living in a world of millions of followers, how does this invisible ceiling make us lonelier?
- Althusser's ideological state apparatuses: do school, media, and family shape us quietly rather than by force? Does the state rule more through ideas than through weapons?
- Durkheim's collective conscience: what are the shared beliefs and feelings that hold a society together? Where does that feeling of 'us' come from during holidays, big matches, and public mourning?