Social Distancing - Essay Example

Social Distancing Introduction Erving Goffman s that the term stigma is used to define the reaction to a label that has been assigned to an individual by the society; this reaction can be decrease in self esteem and shame (Johnson 1203). For example: a person feels ashamed to talk about his illnesses and addiction because he or she fears the label that the society will hold for him once they know about his condition. Courtesy stigma is a term used to define the behavior of a loved one of a person who is already stigmatized; these individuals tend to hide the condition of a stigmatized person from the society.

Social distance and distancing is a term used to refer to the differences between two different groups of a society. This writing will focus on the use of social distance in order to decrease courtesy stigma. Body A friend of mine has been abusing marijuana (cannabis) for several years, for years I have been hiding this information from others including my family members and the friend’s family members and other members of the society. This is because my friend is of the belief that if people came to know about his substance abusive activities, members of the society will look at him in a negative manner and will call him by names such as drug addict.

On the other hand I even felt that people around us in our society and groups will not accept the reasons for which my friend started abusing drugs and will label him as a drug addict. My friend was stigmatized due to the fear of the shame that he will be regarded as a substance abuser or an addict, similarly I was experiencing courtesy stigma due to the same fear. Later the news went on air, everybody within our social circles starting knowing that my friend was abusing drugs and my family members and my friend’s family members even learned about my friend’s behavior.

Due to the fact that I was helping my friend in hiding from the public and from shame, people even started labeling me as an addict and a substance abuser. My parents were talked to and people started telling them that I was even abusing drugs. My parents held a conversation with me and I made them realize that I was not abusing drugs. After acknowledging that I am not abusing drugs, my parents stopped me from seeing my friend or in other words maintain a social distance with my friend in order to erase the shame that is being caused due to my association with my friend.

Similarly, children of other families were even order to remain away from my friend in order to avoid courtesy stigma Conclusion Courtesy stigma arises an individual who is associated with a stigmatized person is labeled by the members of the society. One way to reduce or avoid courtesy stigma is through the means of social distancing. Works Cited Johnson, Bankole A.. Addiction medicine science and practice. New York, NY: Springer, 2011. Print.