The Social Significance of Short Stature: A Study of the Problems of Dwarfs and Midgets

The Social Significance of Short Stature draws on the social, psychological, and physical aspects of a uniquely stigmatized group of persons who share the rare and unusual quality of being extremely diminutive in size. In a world of average-sized persons where the concept of “bigger is better” kind of attitude, these people are stigmatized from birth just because of their short stature. The difficulties and modes of adjustment these people face on a day-to-day basis in terms of social interaction, employment opportunities, and simple companionship are often filled with uncertainty and strain. This work suggests that the attitudes of potential employers, school acquaintances, work mates, and the general public need to be more accepting and compassionate for a group of people who are labelled deviant and shunned not for something they may have done but for something they have no choice in being.

About the Author

Mr. Moneymaker holds a Ph.D. in Sociology with emphasis on criminal justice, medical sociology, and deviance from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has published in areas ranging from researcher immunity, capital punishment, animals and inmates, to the social and psychological problems faced by severely short statured persons. Mr. Moneymaker is currently retired after having taught for over thirty years at the college level and finalizing his career at Siena College in the Sociology/Criminal Justice program, Loudonville, NY.

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