ABSTRACT
A social stigma is defined as a negative attribute or identity that devalues a person within a particular context or culture (Goffman, 1963; Jones et al., 1984). In an attempt to define the different types, or dimensions, of stigma, Goffman discusses three main types-body disfigurements, blemishes of moral character, and “tribal” affiliations such as race or religion. Crossing these three main types, Goffman distinguishes between people who are already “discredited”—that is, their stigma is known to others either because it is immediately visible or because others have previous knowledge of the stigmatized status-or “discreditable”—those whose stigma is concealed. In a review of the stigma literature, Jones et al. (1984) suggested six important dimensions of stigma: visibility/concealability, origin/responsibility for stigmatized condition, aesthetics, peril (i.e., is the stigma perceived as dangerous to others), disruptiveness, and course of the mark (i.e., will it change over time). This search for a way to categorize types of stigma signifies how the experience and consequences of stigma defy a universal explanation. In order to understand the effects of a particular stigmatized status, more must be known about the type of stigma, how it affects the self, and its particular links to the social beliefs that make the mark stigmatizing. Crocker, Major, and Steele (1998) gave a very thorough overview of the current state of research on social stigma. Most of the research to date, however, has focused on the experience of people with a visible stigma. Thus, I limit this chapter to a consideration of some of the key differences between the experience of those with a concealed versus conspicuous stigma. For the pur-
poses of this chapter, a concealed stigma is defined as a stigmatized identity that is not immediately knowable in a social interaction, such as a history of mental illness or incarceration. In the first section of the chapter, I discuss some of the experiences unique to those with a concealed stigma, including deciding when and to whom to reveal, short-and long-term consequences of keeping an identity concealed, and concerns about discovery. In order to highlight similarities and differences of concealed and conspicuous stigma, I then compare stereotype threat research examining gender, a conspicuous stigma, with work on mental illness, a concealed stigma.
