When do we stigmatize? with Dr. Martin Marchman Andersen

Oct 15 2026 

2001 McGill College 11th floor room 1140

When do we stigmatize? with Dr. Martin Marchman Andersen

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In the literature on stigma, there are different takes on what stigma essentially is (Goffman 1963; Link & Phelan 2001; Andersen, Varga, Folker 2022). But these definitions are definitions from a psycho-social perspective, describing the phenomena of stigma as a social process rather than the act of stigmatizing. But once we start discussing how to de-stigmatize, and more generally when stigma is morally wrong, we need first to know when an act counts as a stigmatizing act, and this is not clear from existing definitions as of what stigma is. In other words, even though we seem to know what stigma is, we do not necessarily know when we stigmatize, nor when stigmatizing acts are morally wrong. This presentation will try to answer these questions.

Bio: Martin Marchman Andersen. PhD in philosophy and associate professor at the National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark. Martin has been professionally interested in health priority settings, quantifications of sustainability, and within the last five years mainly the nature of stigma: What is it? How can we measure it? Why is it dangerous? How can we reduce it? He runs projects on stigma funded for instance by The Independent Research Fund Denmark, and Centre for Childhood Health.