Beautifying a stigmatized occupation: Occupational destigmatization of Indian beauty salons

Abstract

How can an occupation’s stigmatized core attributes be ameliorated? To address this issue, we examined the Indian beauty salon occupation, which has long faced core occupational stigma due to physical, moral, caste-based taints, and low occupational prestige. By drawing on published celebrity beautician interviews and conducting semi-structured interviews with salon owners and customers, we found that modifying stigmatized occupational elements and conveying these modifications to society play a crucial role in occupational destigmatization. Specifically, occupational members crafted the core-stigmatized elements of the beauty salon occupation—people, purpose, and processes (3Ps)—with the support of the relevant stakeholders. Changes were then communicated to society through direct interactions and social media, challenging caste-based associations and branding the occupation alongside non-stigmatized, high-prestige occupations. Together, these activities help address the root cause of stigma and disseminate occupational knowledge beyond caste boundaries. Our work theoretically extends the destigmatization literature by framing destigmatization at the occupational level, offering new insights into how core-stigmatized occupations reshaped societal perception and address intractable stigma, such as those linked to caste.