Dirty Linen, Stigma and Risk;a Story of the Three Wise Monkeys.

In this study we propose a new theory for analyzing risk and human behaviour, the dirty linen theory. We situate our analysis in sociocultural approaches as elucidated by Lupton (2003). We also review other approaches that have been used in Risk Analysis and found that they all fall outside the scope of what we wish to analyze hence the proposal for a new theory. These are the sociocultural approach to risk by Douglas (1966; 1992); Risk Society concept as proposed by Beck ( 1986; 1992); Governmentality of Risk as proposed by Foucault (1991) and Systems theory by Luhmann (1993). We set off by linking family secrets (see Barnwell, 2019) in a African context to stigma (see Goffman, 1963). We propose that family secrets are the dirty linen of that family. Our analysis of dirty linen started with families but we soon realized secret keeping is not only confined to families and individuals but it can be found in professional communities, organizations and industries. We find that these five levels of dirty laundry constructs are linked to stigma and risk. As we unpack why people at various stations keep dirty linen or secrets within themselves we find they are avoiding stigma because if they are known to keep such secrets they would suffer all sorts of risks. In ensuring they are not caught by anyone or the public they fake their livelihoods in a fashion described by Goffman (1956) in his theory of the presentation of the self in everyday life. We also discover that dirty linen keeping is total silence about dirt or an evil taking place in an entity which could be an individual, family, community, organization or industry hence we say it is a story of the three wise monkeys.