How Erving Goffman Affected Perceptions of Disability within Sociology

This paper attempts to put Goffman’s writings about disability in Stigma into the context of his own writings as well as into the context of current concepts of disability.

This is a critical review of historical literature in Sociology.

The paper suggests how Goffman’s writings can underpin a concept of disability as a fluid and active state rather than a passive and stigmatized state.

By putting Goffman’s writings into an historical context within the development of the field of sociology, the paper shows that some of the ways in which disability advocates and scholars tend to denigrate his writings are really a misinterpretation.