Marginalization and Normalization of Tattoo Practices in the Context of Everyday Life on the Example of St. Petersburg Tattoo Community

Today tattoos are very common among young people. This present research paper touches upon some key questions concerning how young people face stigma and how they avoid the negative effects of prejudice in Saint Petersburg. The general purpose of this research is to clarify the mechanism of normalization of lives of tattooed people in everyday context. Literature review investigates previous works on stigma, deviance, self-representation, discrimination etc. The main aim of this research is to come up with the list of strategies that people with tattoos use to protect themselves from being socially disapproved and discredited. The study provides qualitative information with 20 in-depth interviews with tattooed young people from Saint Petersburg for analysis. Finally, the results showed what people with tattoos face different troubles in everyday life and cope with them differently. Key words: marginalization, normalization, tattoo, stigma, deviation.