ABSTRACT
The best known communication work in this area is by Rachel Smith. Her model of stigma communication suggests stigma messages contain four specific types of content: marks, labels, responsibility, and peril. Specifically, the authors unpack the presence and implications of power in how key stakeholders engage in stigma management in ways that create both inclusion and exclusion in the workplace. They explore how stigma and stigmatization are being researched as a power-laden communicative outcome and process. Much has been learned about how stigmas are constructed, experienced, and managed in ways that often foster negative outcomes for those affected. The webs of power that constitute stigma make eliminating stigmas challenging and connected to fleeting moments of success rather than the eradication of stigma. Widespread and more permanent alteration of a stigma perception involves a weaving together of power-laden communication from interpersonal, organizational, and societal stakeholders.
