The penalties attached to a stigmatised person extend to relatives, friends, carers and colleagues, who acquire a version of the discredit without the attribute.
Goffman named it in Stigma in 1963: the loyal spouse, the parent, the professional who works with the stigmatised group are treated as partly contaminated, and often manage the association with the same techniques of concealment and disclosure that the stigmatised person uses. The effect explains why support networks thin out in exactly the cases that need them.
In practice
- A colleague who defends someone under investigation finds his own name mentioned in the same sentences.
- A family withdraws from a community it has belonged to for years, and nobody has said anything to them.