Devaluation and Revaluation as Dynamic Social Processes: The Case of Psychedelic Stigma.

Summary

The paper discusses the concept of 'revaluation', which is the positive reassessment of previously stigmatized social objects, particularly in the context of psychedelic drug stigma. It explains how stigma can change over time through various dimensions, including its history and intensity. The case study on psychedelic drugs shows that despite their negative stigma rooted in illegal drug use, they are experiencing a revaluation due to new interest from Western biomedicine as therapeutic options.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Stigma is a form of social devaluation, eliciting shame, disgust and othering. Most theorisation of stigma has focused on devaluation and stigmatisation; this paper identifies and expands on the concept of 'revaluation', defined as the positive revision of previously derogated social objects as part of ongoing stigma trajectories. To do so, we draw on 'stigma mutation' theory, which highlights three dynamic dimensions of stigma change over time: the lineage or history of the stigma, its variation in diverse groups and contexts and its intensity or strength. We further draw on assemblage theories to explain the dynamism of stigma trajectories where both established and novel connections occur globally and locally beyond traditional group or identity boundaries. To illustrate the processes of revaluation, we present a case study of psychedelic drug stigma, analysing academic texts and media articles. Although psychedelic stigma has embedded lineage within existing illegal drug stigma, it is undergoing social revaluation due to other drivers, such as Western biomedicine's recent interest in psychedelics as therapeutics. It is important to consider the dynamism of devaluation and revaluation processes within stigma trajectories; these may occur simultaneously, in complex ways, as the result of multiple connections in both local and global worlds.

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