NORMAN, OKLA. – In a new book, Meredith G. F. Worthen, professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma, presents a groundbreaking theory of LGBTQ stigma – the first-ever theory about stigma that is both testable and well-positioned in existing stigma scholarship.
In Queers, Bis, and Straight Lies: An Intersectional Examination of LGBTQ Stigma, Worthen introduces Norm-Centered Stigma Theory, which stresses the importance of the interplay between social norms, norm violations and social power.
“I created this theory because despite a great deal of work about the significance of stigma, especially the work of Erving Goffman, there are no existing testable theories about stigma that are grounded in past work,” Worthen said. “Put succinctly, the central element of identifying and understanding stigma is norms, and because norms are built from privilege, this creates a hierarchy of non-stigmatized norm followers and stigmatized norm violators that is organized by social power.”