Stigma respecified: investigating HIV stigma as an interactional phenomenon

Hutchinson, Phil ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6244-1747 (2022) Stigma respecified: investigating HIV stigma as an interactional phenomenon. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 28 (5). pp. 861-866. ISSN 1356-1294

Preview

Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (926kB) | Preview

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss stigma, understood as a category which includes acknowledged, enacted degradation, discreditation and discrimination. My discussion begins with an analysis of HIV stigma, as discussed in a social media post on Twitter. I then analyse a fictionalized clinical stigma scenario. These two analyses are undertaken to highlight aspects of the conceptual anatomy and interactional dynamics of stigma and by extension shame. Brief social media declarations and short, fictionalized clinical interactions are rich with information which helps us understand how stigma—degradation, discreditation and discrimination—is operationalized in interaction.