STIGMATIZATION IN THE CONTEXT OF DESOCIALIZATION
Based on the analysis of the theory of symbolic interactionism and publications of modern scientists, representing various scientific directions of social and humanitarian knowledge, the article actualizes the point of view according to which the processes of social stigmatization are desocializing. The purpose of the article is the justification of the ambivalence of the forms of the social identity process, the essence of which is most clearly manifested in the discrepancy between real and virtual identity. A person is in a situation of direct or indirect contradiction between the inner experience of his belonging to the corresponding social group, on the one hand, and the evaluation of his place and role by other participants in social interactions, on the other. Virtual social identity is an imaginary image that some participants of social interaction form in relation to other participants. Real social identity has a basis in objectified human attributes, such as skin color, race, gender, nationality. Any individual who has a certain gap between these identities is "labeled" (stigmatized) or subjected to discrimination. Using comparative methodology, the authors define the main criteria for comprehending and evaluating stigmatization processes. The article asserts the idea that symbolic interactionism, in fact, is a practical sociological tool that does not pretend to identify general tendencies and patterns.