Overview of different stigma coping strategies/mechanisms
| Mechanisms/strategy | Operationalization | Levels | Illustrative examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boundary management | Actors construct insider-outsider boundaries | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Crafting narratives, peer support networks, social weighting, social buffers, etc. |
| Dilution | Actors sever, reduce or alter tie(s) to stigma source | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Distancing from work, distancing from clients, assimilation, etc. |
| Information management | Actors manage information about stigmatized attributes | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Concealing, signalling, revealing, closeting, hiding, distracting, etc. |
| Reconstruction | Actors try to re-shape values, meanings or interpretations of stigma to repair stigma | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Reframing and recalibrating identity, refocusing, cultivating anti-stigma culture, constructing practices to change perceptions, destigmatization and normalizing practices, etc. |
| Cooptation | Using/leveraging stigma strategically for specific purposes | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Using stigma to gain identification with stigmatized group, “doing” or “embracing” stigma, appropriation of stigma labels, using stigma to attract attention/resources, exploiting, etc. |
| Emotion work | Actors using or manipulating emotions | Individual, occupational, industrial | Emotional regulation, performing “abject” labor, rationalizing, emotional politics, moral panic, developing emotional connections with stakeholders, etc. |
| Mechanisms/strategy | Operationalization | Levels | Illustrative examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boundary management | Actors construct insider-outsider boundaries | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Crafting narratives, peer support networks, social weighting, social buffers, etc. |
| Dilution | Actors sever, reduce or alter tie(s) to stigma source | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Distancing from work, distancing from clients, assimilation, etc. |
| Information management | Actors manage information about stigmatized attributes | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Concealing, signalling, revealing, closeting, hiding, distracting, etc. |
| Reconstruction | Actors try to re-shape values, meanings or interpretations of stigma to repair stigma | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Reframing and recalibrating identity, refocusing, cultivating anti-stigma culture, constructing practices to change perceptions, destigmatization and normalizing practices, etc. |
| Cooptation | Using/leveraging stigma strategically for specific purposes | Individual, occupational, organizational, industrial | Using stigma to gain identification with stigmatized group, “doing” or “embracing” stigma, appropriation of stigma labels, using stigma to attract attention/resources, exploiting, etc. |
| Emotion work | Actors using or manipulating emotions | Individual, occupational, industrial | Emotional regulation, performing “abject” labor, rationalizing, emotional politics, moral panic, developing emotional connections with stakeholders, etc. |