Goffman v Erikson

For homework we were instructed to read two texts on stigma: Stigma by Erving Goffman and "On the Sociology of Deviance" by Kai Erikson.  Although both of these were written on the same topic, I found them to be quite different.  For the most part, it seemed to me like Goffman focused on stigma at a more personal level; he gave multiple examples of a variety of individual's experiences living with a stigma.  He elaborated on the way stigmatized individual were treated by members of society on a microscopic level.  Erikson, on the other hand, seemed to focus on stigma on a more macroscopic level: how to determine if an individual has a stigma or not, how that stigmatized individual is treated by society as a whole, the role of the stigmatized in society.  By reading both texts, I felt I was able to gain a more rounded knowledge of stigmas and how they can affect individuals and societies.