Survey of Stigma (Erving Goffman), Pride Mark in Selected Iranian Contemporary Drama

Stigma refers to the different view of society to t marred identities. In such cases there is a difference between the potential identity and the actual identity. Those carrying a stigma try to resist public view about themselves by ignoring their position and showing new identities and behavioral characteristics. Social stigma creates unhappiness for a labelled person or community on social grounds that tries to distinguish them, from other portions of society. Stigma then can be attached to a person, by the greater society, who differs from their cultural norms. Social stigma can result from mental disorder, physical disabilities, diseases, illegitimacy, sexuality, beliefs, principles, religion, beauty, gender identity, parenthood, education, race, ethnicity, power, reputation, wealth, occupation, class, affiliation, brainpower or criminality. Attributes associated with social stigma often vary in different societies depending on the geopolitical and corresponding sociopolitical contexts. According to Erving Goffman, there are three forms of social stigma: Obvious deformations (such as wounds), corporal signs or physical and social disability. Variation in personal traits stigmatized in this way, including falling in a school exam, working a low wage job, single parenthood, economic failure, unemployment, welfare dependency, infidelity, mental disorder, drug addiction, and wrong background. Tribal stigmas are behaviors of a tribal group, ethnic, nationality, or religion that is believed to be a deviation from the general normative civilization.
Gender is a more outstanding ground in Iranian contemporary drama than other types of stigma. This paper is a gender sociological review over the selected Iranian drama by using Erving Goffman Theory of Stigma. This paper considers stigma as Hamartia and then compares and categorizes different types of stigma between men and women in selected Iranian Drama by exploring the power of labeling in sexual relationships. Then, identity crisis and different ways of hiding stigma are explored: Including abiding behavior, alienation and passive manner toward others (spouse or father) among women; while men try to rebuild their identity and regain their credit. Stigma-related factors in men are more in connection with the external environment (culture, economics, and politics) and are often in interaction with their counterparts (men), while women are more stigmatized by physiological and marital relations or in interaction with the opposite sex. Omission, eject denial; ignoring privacy are the most common ways of dealing with stigmatized characters.
Ultimately, stigma is about public control. A consequence of this is that stigma is necessarily a social happening. Without a society, one cannot have a stigma. What this article has added to Goffman’s Theory of Stigma is what we have called Pride Mark. To have a stigma, one must have a stigmatizer and someone who is stigmatized. In Pride Mark, one who has stigmatized is noble, enlighten, intellectual man, a person who is marginalized by society because of his superiority in knowledge.