Sociology

According to W. E. B. DuBois, double consciousness is defined as an individual who views himself or herself through the standards or perspectives of others (Black 2007393). In this particular case DuBois studied, it is the black people seeing themselves through the prism of whites. In the case of African-Americans, their history differs from that of the whites as they were brought to the shores of America as slaves, deprived of their freedom and treated as less than human. As a result, this feeling of inferiority has caused them to develop this double consciousness as they allow themselves to be made inferior by whites and under these conditions, double consciousness would be considered unhealthy in interpersonal relationships among people in a society (Black 2007393 McWhorter 1992299).

This can be related to the concept of stigma. According to Erving Goffman (198624), a noted sociologist, a stigma is as  a special kind of gap between virtual social identity and actual social identity.  In a society, its members establish a series of standards or criteria of categorizing or labeling individuals based on certain characteristics or attributes. This is called the virtual social identity.  The attributes one actually sees would be called the actual social identity. Stigma comes in when an individuals actual social identity fails to meet the virtual social identity that is preconditioned in the minds of the other members of society, thus making this proverbial  ugly duckling  excluded, if not ostracized. Blacks had been treated this way throughout history because they failed to meet the exiting standards set by society who automatically had looked down upon them until the civil rights movement freed them from this stigma.

It can be said that double consciousness and stigma are intertwined if the people allow others to determine their life and use it as an excuse to feel inferior, whether is is based on the color of their skin, intelligence, or traits. By doing so, they  are imposing the stigma upon themselves through this double consciousness. Nevertheless, it would help to reveal how race has social significance and how double consciousness, intertwined with stigma has an effect on interracial or interpersonal relations. On an individual level, one is encouraged to do away with this double consciousness and set their own standards if one is to become a better individual.  If this can be repeated a thousand fold or more, the stigma will go away.  Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt had put it so well,  nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent (Esar1995424).