Aaron Rosen Lecture: Understanding Stigmatization and Resistance through Ethnographic Research: Implications for Practice

Most of the groups of concern to social workers experience some form of stigmatization; that is, they are socially discredited by virtue of physical appearance (for example, a visible disability), by the group to which they belong (for example, an ethnic minority group) or by their behavior (for example, substance misuse or criminality). For the afflicted person, stigmatization is essentially an attack on the inherent worth of the self as a member of the social group. In this talk, I will draw on three ethnographies to understand how adults from different cultural communities scaffold the emerging “self” of children exposed to stigmatization; in other words, how diverse adults support children in resisting what Goffman (1963) termed the “spoiled identity.” We will consider African American children at church in Salt Lake City in the 1990s; Japanese children currently navigating elementary school in East Asia during a time of changing ideas and policies concerning disabilities; and White children from impoverished, substance-involved families in the rural Midwest in the first decade of the 21st century. We will consider socialization practices common across these very different cultural contexts, and also how those practices are culturally nuanced. I’ll argue that the understanding gained through this ethnographic research on how individuals resist stigmatization using resources available in their everyday lives provides important lessons for effective social work practice. If our interventions are informed by an understanding of how others in our clients’ cultural communities have successfully resisted stigmatization or other forms of oppression, then they are more likely to be culturally sensitive; in other words, to make sense to our clients and be effective and sustainable in their everyday lives.