WHAT IS MEANT BY STIGMA,AND DOES IT LINK WITH THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL Essay

WHAT IS MEANT BY STIGMA,AND DOES IT LINK WITH THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL EXCLUSIONS AND WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND PRACTICE - Essay Example In this regard, social labelling that discredits individuals’ virtual identities (Crocker et al 1998, p.505), inevitably leads to stigmatization that often times leads to distortion of individual identities. Social exclusion, on the other hand, refers to the state of being locked out from participation in the central social activities in one’s own society (Burchardt et al 2002, p.30); this means that if an individual fails to take part in social activities then they are ‘socially excluded’. The purpose of this paper is to explain what is meant by the term ‘stigma’, and to explore the possible linkage there is between this term and the concept of social exclusion; consequently, the conclusion of this paper will draw upon this knowledge to give implications for policy and practice. Simply put, stigma denotes ‘a mark of shame’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2012), concomitant particularly with certain individuals in the society, thus, people who are stigmatized actually view themselves inferior due to social labels that describe them so, distorting their real identities. According to Chamberlin, stigma often leads to discrimination implying that the individual being stigmatized has a problem (Sayce 1998, pp.331-332); in this case, language is a powerful tool that functions in the creation of certain perceptions and stereotypes about individuals. When people make biased judgments concerning others, this negative labelling coupled with the resultant social labels and subsequent stigmatization that arises can be attributable to mental health issues. Language is very effective in helping people with mental illnesses to manage and eventually overcome their problem especially because the words used in reference to people influence their perceptions and expectatio ns respectively (Lynn 2010 p.1). For instance, existing knowledge shows that relapse rates of patients with mental