Stigma (Malik Speaking)
				Source		MAIN PATH: Fred
				Fred

We're dancing all around the most basic problem of equality by talking about equality before the law and poverty. Those things are important but they don't get to the kind of inequality I am concerned about. I believe that the root of many sorts of inequality is in the social construction of inferiority. By inferiority I mean the devaluation of certain groups of people or, in many cases, contempt for certain groups.

It is this process of construction that we must understand and eliminate. We can call this devaluing of certain groups, including African Americans and women and gays, "stigmatization." When we are only talking about race, we can call it racism.

The construction of stigma runs deep in our culture. Its elimination requires a cultural transformation of ideas, attitudes, valuations, and meanings. The sources are so deep that I do not think that it can be eliminated within the framework of a liberal society. It may require too much restriction on both speech and property.

Reference: For an extended discussion of law, stigma, and inequality, see Andrew Koppelman's Antidiscrimination Law and Social Equality.

Ariadne Home	Hate Speech Bibliography	Hate Speech Home