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The meaning of stigma: identity construction in two old-age institutions TOVA GAMLIEL and HAIM HAZAN Ageing and Society / Volume 26 / Issue 03 / May 2006, pp 355 - 371 DOI: 10.1017/S0144686X0500454X, Published online: 24 April 2006
Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0144686X0500454X How to cite this article: TOVA GAMLIEL and HAIM HAZAN (2006). The meaning of stigma: identity construction in two old-age institutions. Ageing and Society, 26, pp 355-371 doi:10.1017/S0144686X0500454X Request Permissions : Click here
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Ageing & Society 26, 2006, 355–371. f 2006 Cambridge University Press doi:10.1017/S0144686X0500454X Printed in the United Kingdom
The meaning of stigma : identity construction in two old-age institutions TOVA GAMLIEL* and HAIM HAZAN# ABSTRACT People in advanced old age with frailties and those who are resident in old-age institutions manage their identities within the constraints of stigmatised settings. This paper compares the processes of identity construction in an old-age home and in a sheltered housing project for older people in Israel. Applying a symbolicinteractionist perspective that sees old-age institutions as social arenas for the reconstruction of identity, the paper first distinguishes the residents’ constructions of stigma and deviance. While the old-age home residents collectively turned their stigma into a source of positive labelling, the sheltered housing residents drew advantages from their previous roles and statuses. Gossip is shown to play a critical role in reproducing stigma, particularly in the old-age home. These findings are used to demonstrate the variability and potential for adaptation among the residents – who are often stereotyped as homogeneous and passive. The paper concludes with a discussion of the literal and metaphorical languages used by older people, and of stigma as a positive instrument that can introduce content into the definition of the self. KEY WORDS – stigma, old-age home, sheltered housing, gossip, identity, Israel.
It should be seen, then, that stigma management is a general feature of society, a process occurring wherever there are identity norms (Erving Goffman 1963 : 130).
Introduction
Residents of old-age institutions are often seen stereotypically as a constrained, passive and homogeneous group (Turner 1960 ; Mahoney 1994), and the loss of a person’s own home in old age is usually considered a crisis (Adams 1992 ; Haight 1995). In line with these socially-shared perceptions, many newly-institutionalised older people tend to view their institutionalisation as an undesirable step only taken because impelled * Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. # Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
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