“Hurry up and wait”: Stigma, Poverty, and Contractual Citizenship

Abstract

The emergence of welfare contractualism in the United States in the 1970s marked a shift from viewing welfare as an entitlement to viewing welfare as a right to be earned through work. Combined with the continual degradation of labor markets since the 1970s, the rise of neoliberal ideology emphasizing individualism, and the passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the devolved welfare system – most often managed by a myriad of social service nonprofits – has exacerbated the difficulties of the poor. Scholars have noted, for instance, the loss of civil rights and the proliferation of administrative burdens – including incessant waiting – with which poor people seeking aid are increasingly faced. But “contractual citizenship,” I argue, has not just remade relations between the poor and the state. Rather, as a diffuse cultural ethos, contractual citizenship has also remade relations between and amongst the poor themselves, exacerbating stigmatization, distancing, and denigration. Drawing upon an ethnography of a soup kitchen based in Syracuse, New York, I argue that as a consequence of contractual citizenship, prospective recipients of aid and the poor more broadly adapt their behavior to appear as deserving, worthy citizens and, simultaneously, externally defame their peers for their lesser behaviors. Those who take maximum advantage of free resources – such as attending multiple emergency food programs and taking more than one plate of food – are often deemed by other poor recipients of aid as greedy, ungrateful, and selfish. Thus, the repetitious and time-consuming nature of interacting with the state for basic resources – such as housing or welfare – is further complicated by this intraclass stigma. These findings not only shed light on the challenges of building solidarity amongst the poor but show how political and economic shifts influence how poor people interact with each other and the state.

Application of Guba and Lincoln's parallel criteria to assess trustworthiness of qualitative research on indigenous social protection systems

“…A field note for recording of events was used to document field observations, intuitions and clarifications. Mott (2022) applied this strategy as well in her ethnographic study, based on the argument that it would hinder ability to build rapport and deep relationships with the people who the author encountered. In addition, the number of observations made in each community was limited by the number of community-based associations' events.…”

Navigating an Overburdened Courtroom: How Inconsistent Rules, Shadow Procedures, and Social Capital Disadvantage Tenants in Eviction Court

“…As tenants maneuver through a myriad of obstacles in their cases, they feel pressure to minimize the time spent in the courtroom. But at each step of the process, courtroom procedures impose burdens upon tenants—burdens broadly documented elsewhere in the lives of the poor as well (Auyero 2012; Koppelman 2018; Mott 2022; Purser 2012). The ambiguous courtroom procedures and inconsistent application of rules increase the amount of time spent waiting at multiple points in the process.…”

sujetos configurados como receptores en el marco de las políticas de alimentación y nutrición en una región de Antioquia-Colombia

“…Esta situación también se evidencia en un estudio de un programa de alimentación escolar, en el cual profesores y cocineros tienen una representación social de los participantes como receptores resignados que se expresa en frases como "el gobierno da, y el alumno tiene que recibir" (21). Por su parte, Mott afirma que las personas empobrecidas internalizan las lecciones neoliberales para aparecer como ciudadanos agradecidos y trabajadores dignos de apoyo, en lugar de con considerarse como titulares de derecho (22), esto configura un "ethos cultural difuso" que los induce a esperar para parecer "merecedores".…”