The DOI matches its Crossref record; 45 of the 45 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Geneticization of Deviant Behavior and Consequences for Stigma: The Case of Mental Illness
Abstract
One likely consequence of the genetics revolution is an increased tendency to understand human behavior in genetic terms. How might this “geneticization” affect stigma? Attribution theory predicts a reduction in stigma via reduced blame, anger, and punishment and increased sympathy and help. According to “genetic essentialist” thinking, genes are the basis of human identity and strongly deterministic of behavior. If such ideas are commonly accepted, geneticization should exacerbate stigma by increasing perceptions of differentness, persistence, seriousness, and transmissibility, which in turn should increase social distance and reproductive restrictiveness. I test these predictions using the case of mental illness and a vignette experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey. There was little support for attribution theory predictions. Consistent with genetic essentialism, genetic attributions increased the perceived seriousness and persistence of the mental illness and the belief that siblings and children would develop the same problem. Genetic attribution did not affect reproductive restrictiveness or social distance from the ill person but did increase social distance from the person's sibling, particularly regarding intimate forms of contact involving dating, marriage, and having children.
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Citations
Cites
Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity
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Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. C. (2001) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.363 · Cited by 8,848
Self-citationStigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity.
DeFleur, M. L., & Goffman, E. (1964) · Social Forces · doi:10.2307/2575995 · Cited by 6,420
An Attributional Theory of Motivation and Emotion
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Merton, R. K. (1936) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2084615 · Cited by 2,520
Public conceptions of mental illness: labels, causes, dangerousness, and social distance.
Link, B. G., Phelan, J. C., Bresnahan, M., Stueve, A., & Pescosolido, B. A. (1999) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.89.9.1328 · Cited by 1,949
Self-citationSocial Stigma: The Psychology of Marked Relationships.
Hilbert, R. A., Jones, E. E., Farina, A., Hastorf, A. H., Markus, H., Miller, D. T., & Scott, R. A. (1985) · Contemporary Sociology · doi:10.2307/2071381 · Cited by 1,877
An attributional analysis of reactions to stigmas
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Cited by
Pescosolido, B. A., Martin, J. K., Long, J. S., Medina, T. R., Phelan, J. C., & Link, B. G. (2010) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.09121743 · Cited by 1,262
Self-citationBiogenetic explanations and stigma: A meta-analytic review of associations among laypeople
Kvaale, E. P., Gottdiener, W. H., & Haslam, N. (2013) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.07.017 · Cited by 302
de Leeuw, A., Happé, F., & Hoekstra, R. A. (2020) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.2276 · Cited by 295
Pachankis, J. E., Hatzenbuehler, M. L., Wang, K., Burton, C. L., Crawford, F. W., Phelan, J. C., & Link, B. G. (2018) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167217741313 · Cited by 246
Self-citationMilad (2012) · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.11.002 · Cited by 137
Metadata
- Authors
- Phelan, J. C.
- Venue
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-12
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 307-322
- ISSN
- 0022-1465 (ISSN-L)
- 2150-6000
- OpenAlex
- W2054586858
- Cited by
- 567
- References
- 45
- FWCI
- 11.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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