Navigating the stigmatised identities of poverty in austere times: Resisting and responding to narratives of personal failure

Abstract

Behavioural explanations of poverty and disadvantage have figured heavily in political rhetoric in the era of austerity, as a means to understand trajectories into poverty and subsequent relationships between benefit claimants and the state. These discourses are not restricted to political debate, as previous studies demonstrate they impact upon public consciousness and structure the ways that the general public think about poverty, as well as shaping the ways in which people living on low incomes are treated. Drawing upon the testimonies of 62 people in England and Scotland experiencing poverty, this article seeks to understand our participants’ responses to these discourses, in particular: how these behavioural explanations impact upon their understanding of their own situations, as well as their self perceptions; how these discourses shape their relationships with others, in terms of their experience of disrespect; and how participants seek to dissociate themselves from their stigmatising implications.

Stigma, shame and ‘people like us’: an ethnographic study of foodbank use in the UK

“…Baumberg (2016) has observed a growing academic interest in the 'psychosocial' dimensions of poverty, including disrespect, embarrassment and shame (Jo, 2013;Pemberton et al, 2016). Chase and Walker (2013: 743) observe how the words 'awkward', 'embarrassed', 'guilty', 'rotten', 'degraded', 'crap', 'useless', 'worthless', 'a failure', 'uncomfortable' , 'funny', and 'dirty', were all used to convey how people in poverty felt about themselves or were made to feel in certain social interactions.…”

“…These are "negative value judgements that construct 'the poor' variously as a source of moral contamination, a threat, an 'undeserving' economic burden, an object of pity or even as an exotic species", for Lister (2004: 10). The practice of 'othering' by people living in poverty has become increasingly well documented in academic literature in recent years (Chase and Walker 2013;Garthwaite 2014;Patrick 2014;Pemberton et al 2016;Shildrick et al 2012;.…”

‘Got a degree…all of a sudden I'm in a Jobcentre’: The role of ‘stigma’ in ‘precarious’ graduate transitions

“…Furthermore, JCP engagement was often reluctant and complicated by notions of stigma regardless. This is perhaps not surprising when considering the extent of entrenched stigmatic, societal narratives of welfare (Pemberton et al, 2016) in conjunction with internalised discourses of employability.…”

“…The narrative of 'scroungers' has become increasingly powerful in the UK (Pemberton et al, 2016). It explicitly decrees social positioning that is weighted towards labour market participation -categorising those not in paid employment as 'shirkers' and those that are, as 'strivers' -reorienting the traditional 'deserving/underserving' debate towards problematising those in receipt of 'welfare' (Patrick, 2016).…”

“…In terms of 'institutional stigma' associated with the process of claiming benefits, there is extensive evidence that is this prevalent in the UK (Pemberton et al, 2016;Shildrick et al, 2012). This can result in the exclusion of Jobcentre Plus as a prospective job-search method (Gush et al, 2015: 13).…”