Coping With Prejudice: Personal Relationship Partners as Sources of Socioemotional Support for Stigmatized Individuals

Journal of Social Issues, Spring, 2001 by Stanley O. Gaines, Jr.

Stanley O. Gaines, Jr.[*]

In the present article, I consider the behavior of nonstigmatized versus stigmatized perceivers toward stigmatized target persons in personal relationships. First, I argue that nonstigmatized persons generally are less likely to enter into personal relationships with or to give affection and respect as socioemotional support to stigmatized persons than are other stigmatized persons. Second, Ipresent a variety of facilitators and barriers to stigmatized persons' supportive function as well as factors that might make nonstigmatized persons more likely than stigmatized per sons as sources of socioemotional support for stigmatized partners. Directions for future research are discussed.

According to Goffman (1963), individuals with discredited identities are stigmatized by virtue of belonging to socially devalued groups whose distinguishing characteristics are readily visible (e.g., persons of color, heterosexual women) and face the constant task of managing tension when in public, whereas individuals with discreditable identities are stigmatized by virtue of belonging to socially devalued groups whose distinguishing characteristics are not readily visible (e.g., Jewish persons, gay men) and face the constant task of managing information when in public. Some individuals possess discredited as well as discreditable identities (e.g., White lesbians, Muslim men of color) and arguably enact the most complex and difficult roles of all stigmatized persons. The chronic stress and anxiety that result from constant acting demands from day to day can take a psychological toll upon even the healthiest of stigmatized individuals, especially when those stigmatized individuals must struggle to maintain self-love (i.e., emotional acceptance of oneself) and self-esteem (i.e., social acceptance of oneself) while responding to verbal or physical attacks from nonstigmatized individuals.

Stigmatized individuals encounter indirect as well as direct threats to their self-love and self-esteem. For example, mass media such as television and motion pictures routinely engage in "blaming the victim" by portraying stigmatized individuals as incompetent and as suffering from defects in personality and/or intellect. On the one hand, stigmatized individuals do not necessarily accept negative societal images of themselves in a passive or uncritical manner. On the other hand, such negative images perpetuated by the entertainment industry and other societal institutions can be so pervasive that stigmatized individuals may find it difficult to avoid internalizing the images to some extent, especially during child hood. In turn, to the extent that they internalize negative stereotypes about them selves and their fellow ingroup members, stigmatized individuals' belief that they are worthy of love and esteem may be undermined.

Of course, many stigmatized individuals actively reject negative societal stereotypes concerning themselves and ingroup members. Nevertheless, even when stigmatized individuals are well on their way toward self-actualization, they discover at times that their attempts at impression management (i.e., persuading observers to view the actors as the actors wish to be viewed) fail to prevent stereo typing, prejudice, or discriminatory behavior directed toward them by certain observers. Over time, failure at impression management can lead to doubts about the accuracy of self-perceptions. When actors begin to doubt whether they truly know themselves, actors' entire selves may become threatened.

The present article addresses the extent to which stigmatized individuals are likely to receive socioemotional support within the context of personal relation ships with others who may or may not be stigmatized along the same social dimensions. Drawing upon Foa and Foa (1974), I define socioemotional support as the range of behaviors through which one person conveys love (i.e., affection or emotional acceptance) and esteem (i.e., respect or social acceptance) toward another person and, thus, attempts to fulfill the other person's most basic psychological needs. I begin with the assumption that nonstigmatized persons are less likely than are stigmatized persons to serve as sources of socioemotional support for stigmatized partners. On the basis of this assumption, I identify two major factors (i.e., willingness to enter into relationships with stigmatized persons and barriers to socioemotional support) that tend to minimize nonstigmatized persons' supportive function along with several factors that may improve the odds of nonstigmatized persons providing support for stigmatized partners. Afterward, I present a variety of facilitators and barriers to stigmatized persons' supportive function as well as factors that might make nonstigmatized persons more likely than stigmatized persons to provide support for stigmatized persons. I view all of the factors influencing variation across persons' giving of socioemotional support as bound together by Goffman's (1959, 1963) metaphor of social interaction as stage performance; furthermore, I view the factors in question as crucial to under standing relationship-level outcomes (e.g., relationship satisfaction and stability) and individual-level outcomes (e.g., self-love and self-esteem) for stigmatized partners.