The progressive loss of boundaries of the stigma concept within the social sciences is stated, as well as its frequent confusion with other concepts and social phenomena associated to its manifestations, elucidating specifically its relationship to the negative social discrimination. Some distinctive characteristics of stigma phenomenon are proposed regarding the particular emotional reaction and the rationalizations that accompany it, the idea of contagiousness, and the suppression of stigma, as a starting point for a correct demarcation of this concept in the future. |