Fallen From Grace: Stigmatizing the Chinese Medical Profession

While research on stigma has proliferated since the 1960s, much of this work has focused on the characteristics and negative consequences of stigma on individuals and organizations, and how organizations and managers differentially respond to stigma. Despite providing valuable insights into the consequential implications of pervasive exclusion from social and economic life, research to date has been relatively silent about the process of stigmatization. This oversight is surprising given that the stigmatization process not only elucidates how and why stigmas emerge within a particular social context, but also the differentiated roles that actors and audiences play. In this article we empirically unpack the process and conditions under which a high status, well-respected profession in China became progressively stigmatized. In so doing, we employ a longitudinal cross-level research design to examine the complexities and contextual nature of the stigmatization process. In addition, our study draws attention...