Stigma occurs when a social group is rejected, devalued, ignored or oppressed on the basis of assumed group attributes, whether these are true, partly true or false. Stigma can negatively affect the group members’ socio-political status, social mobility, social interaction, economic situation, and their physical and psychological well-being.

Below are the four mechanisms of stigma, as described by sociologists Bruce Link and Jo Phelan in 2001:

1. Labelling: Social groups are categorised in a way that is overgeneralised and oversimplified—for instance, ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’.
2. Stereotyping: the stigmatised group is associated with undesirable personality traits, which contributes to the development of negative attitudes towards them. See more about stereotyping.
3. Separation: This creates the binary of ‘us’ (the ingroup – the ‘normal’ people) versus ‘them’ (the outgroup – the ‘abnormal’ people).
4. Discrimination: The stigmatised group experiences harmful behaviour (e.g. racism, sexism, ableism) and negative social conditions (e.g. disadvantaging policies).

In media representations, stigmatisation happens through the first three mechanisms: labelling, stereotyping and separation. For example, the above documentary series Dickes Deutschland (Chubby Germany) repeatedly labels obese people as ‘fat’ and ‘chubby’, but it also lingers on images that emphasise their voluminous bodies.

It further stereotypes them as living unhealthily, being lazy, being depressed, not pursuing a career or being socially irresponsible. On top of this, it emphasises their ‘abnormal’ lifestyle in contrast to a ‘normal’ lifestyle of physical exercise, healthy diets, professional careers and social responsibility.

Of course, it is important for media to raise awareness about such health and social issues. However, the repeated representation of obese people in the above way and the lack of alternative representations have maintained their social stigma.

If any media content aims to reduce stigma, it needs to address the first three mechanisms of stigmatisation. All the models presented later offer different strategies for this.

More information about how stigma works can be found in Chapter 1.

Read in the next section why documentaries are instrumental in maintaining or reducing stigma.