Stigma in Consumption and Markets

C. Valor

In the book Oxford Bibliographies in Marketing

Oxford Academic, New York, United States of America

Summary

Stigma is a deeply discrediting attribute that reduces the bearer “from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one” (Goffman 1963, p. 3). Literature on stigma is vast. Although the main conceptualization of stigma originated in sociology, the notion of stigma has been grappled with by all disciplinary domains to explain the antecedents and consequences of very negative social evaluations. Marketing and management have been no exception. Their engagement with the notion of stigma showed that it is a multi-level construct that transcends the individual or group level and can be applied to professions, organizations, workers, and industries. These disciplines have extended the foundational theories by explaining the originating causes of stigma; the processes whereby consumers, products, brands, organizations and markets are stigmatized; the consequences of stigma for market actors; and the conformity or transformative strategies used to manage stigma or to socially undo it. To create this bibliography, conceptual papers and integrative reviews have been privileged. Given that reviews cite in turn other papers, these selected sources provide a simple but rich overview of the literature to anyone seeking to have a good understanding of stigma in markets. Additionally, the bibliography contains references from the highest-quality journals, as established by the Academic Journal Guide 2024 and both seminal papers and latest work. The studies compiled cover a variety of stigma types.

Spanish layman's summary:

Esta bibliografía comentada reúne los principales estudios sobre el estigma en los mercados. Explica cómo surge, cómo afecta a personas, marcas, empresas e industrias, y qué estrategias ayudan a reducirlo. Incluye trabajos clásicos y recientes de revistas de máxima calidad.

English layman's summary:

This annotated bibliography brings together key research on stigma in markets. It explains how stigma emerges, how it affects people, brands, organizations and industries, and which strategies can reduce it. It includes landmark and recent studies from leading journals.

Editors: S. Sridhar

ISBN: 978-0-19-785906-3

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197859063.003.0052

DOI of the book: https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197859063.001.0001

Published: 2026

Citation:
C. Valor, "Stigma in Consumption and Markets", in Oxford Bibliographies in Marketing, S. Sridhar Ed. New York, United States of America: Ed. Oxford Academic, 2026, pp. , doi: 10.1093/9780197859063.003.0052

IIT-26-201L