Both stigma and discrimination are socially highly relevant phenomena. Not only do they
induce social segregation in a manner that forces people to subordinate themselves.
Especially stigmatisation leads people to exclude themselves out of a feeling of shame and
to refrain from seeking support from services that provide it. It is therefore of elementary
importance for many social fields, such as the public health sector, social work, social
services, etc., to understand the processes of stigma and discrimination. “Stigma” and
“discrimination” are two terms that are frequently used, but their usage is often very
unclear.
For “stigma” definitions range from the simplistic, such as a mark of disgrace, to
normative notions, which regard stigma as a deviation from the norm (cf. Goffmann, 1990
[1963]), to very unclear notions that mix stigmatisation and discrimination and describe a
complex of phenomena such as class categorisation, racism, sexism, social exclusion and
other forms of differing or unfair treatment. The positive meaning of discrimination as
being the ability to make fine distinctions is largely overlooked. ”Stigma” and
“discrimination” are thus highly associated with very negative emotions. First of all, this
book aims at removing this emotional charge in order to open up the topic for academic
analysis.