Book review: Discrimination as Stigma: A Theory of Anti-discrimination Law

Abstract

Being a legal scholar interested in the relationship of the phenomenon of stigmatization with important societal and legal questions, the opportunity to review this work was not to be passed up. Efforts by legal scholars to explore in any meaningful way the phenomena of stigmatization and the research relating to it have been few and far between. As the author identifies in her introduction, the use of stigmatization as a concept in legal judgments, analysis and writings has been rare. Where it has occurred references have been superficial, without meaningful analysis and often employing what can only be understood to be an intuitive understanding of the concept (p. 38). This stands in stark contrast to the rich and varied research that has occurred in recent decades surrounding the phenomenon. At its core, this book is a brave (and to be applauded) attempt to undertake an exploration of such issues from a legal scholar's perspective and relate such findings to the issue of discrimination and legal approaches intended to tackle it. In doing so, it was the author's aim to formulate a principle (the 'anti-stigma principle') that would guide the formulation and implementation of anti-discrimination law (an important goal, given the close relationship between the two concepts) (p. 38). Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the concept of stigmatization, starting with Goffman's seminal work and then briefly explaining a number of developments that have occurred in the decades since. These include contributions from fields such as psychology, public health and sociology. It is the last of these areas that appears to inform the author's outlook to the greatest extent and to which she mostly draws upon in attempting to form her own thesis on the relevance of the concept of stigmatization to anti-discrimination law. Chapter 2 looks at the common elements of many anti-discrimination approaches, ranging from the philosophical inspiration behind them (mostly focusing on themes of equality) to the manifestation of anti-discrimination approaches in international law. The law focuses on the common use of exhaustive lists to define the categories that deserve protection from discrimination and the importance of the concept of 'immutability' to