Devaluation and Revaluation as Dynamic Social Processes: The Case of Psychedelic Stigma.
Sociology of health & illness May 1, 2026 Hannah Farrimond, Mike Michael
Stigma, a form of social devaluation that elicits shame and othering, can also undergo positive revision over time. This paper introduces 'revaluation' as the process by which previously derogated social objects are positively re-evaluated, drawing on 'stigma mutation' theory and assemblage theories to explain how stigma changes across lineages, groups, and intensities. A case study of psychedelic drug stigma shows that, while it remains embedded in illegal drug stigma, it is undergoing revaluation due to Western biomedicine's interest in psychedelics as therapeutics. Devaluation and revaluation can occur simultaneously through complex local and global connections.