... exposition poses a basic principle; that the stigmatized individual has a simple choice regarding the attributes he or she has that makes them different. They can either control the information by not letting so called "normals," i.e. everyone else, know what their secret is if it is not obviously visible, pretending to be normal whilst harbouring the knowledge that their stigma makes them different; or they can let it be known and manage the resulting tension. The ensuing discussion and analysis is founded on the premise that 'society establishes the means of ordinary and natural for members of each of these categories' (p2). This system of categorisation itself is not explored or described in any detail. Rather, comprehension and indeed existence of the necessarily complicated matrix of gender, race, age, nationality, speech and many other characteristics is assumed. But the subtitle Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity comes with ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now