(this is from Karen Seccombe’s book, So you think I drive a Cadillac?)

A profile of a mother of four on welfare (Dawn):

• Four children from four different men (first at age 13; last at age 21)
• Only one of the fathers pays any child support, and that sporadically;
• Not interested in relationships with men anymore (ambiguous whether she has been abused);
• One child lives with Dawn’s mother (they see each other frequently);
• She receives: $365 cash grant; $345/mo in food stamps (for three kids and her), subsidized housing ($21/mo), Medicaid for her and the children;
• On and off welfare for most of her life, also has worked a number of jobs, low-paying;
• Has a criminal record because she worked and simultaneously received welfare benefits for a period of time.

Does this sound like the ‘culture of poverty?’ familiar with welfare most of her life, ‘nontraditional’ living arrangements, as she was used to growing up (no men around, raised by her grandmother), mother at early age, continued having children, can’t hold a job . . .

• women on welfare–most — 2/3 — feel shame (study of African American women, Goodban 1985; Jarrett 1996)
• desire to leave welfare was because of lack of privacy, stigma (Rank 1994)
• women consistently reported in Seccombe’s study feeling shamed, hearing comments about lazy, unmotivated welfare mothers (sometimes directly addressed to them);
• People’s attitudes often change when they find out a mother is receiving cash assistance (from indifferent or positive to negative);

Erving Goffman (1963) and Stigma: you feel it when there is a gap between your ideal public image of yourself, and the actual public image (as understood by the way one is treated). Stigmatized people tend to get ‘labeled,’ categorized as deviant (see Gans’ article). We don’t get stigmatized for being mothers, fathers, students, employees, etc. But stigma tends to focus on a single aspect, isolate and reduce human beings to one-trait clichés. ‘The leper,’ ‘the beggar,’ ‘bum,’ ‘pandhandler,’ ‘HIV positive,’ ‘gay,’ ‘black,’ ‘Indian,’ ‘Arab,’ ‘Hispanic,’ ‘wheelchair-bound,’ ‘alcoholic,’ ‘downs syndrome,’ ‘chemo patient,’ ‘ex-convict,’ ‘mixed race married couple,’ etc. What if we did this with the entitled wealthy? The ‘sleaze bucket,’ ‘Wall Street vulture,’ ‘bottom feeder,’ ‘snake oil salesman,’ ‘white collar criminal,’ ‘parasite,’ etc. They’re all reducing the complex to the one-dimensional.

In Dawn’s and other women’s cases in Seccombe’s study, the stigma produces shame and guilt, and the shame is often felt by the offspring. If there is a learned trait that comes out of many poor households, it may be the shame of poverty.

Stigma and race

Many Americans incorrectly assume that most welfare recipients are African American single mothers who’ve never married (whites and blacks each make up about 36% of welfare recipients). Comments women hear reportedly come most often from those people who have little or no experience with welfare (especially white males). Some in the population harbor the mistaken belief that because of Affirmative Action programs, blacks enjoy much more prosperity now, and that in fact ‘reverse discrimination’ is taking place. We discussed in class Wilson’s urban underclass thesis–those blacks who were able to leave the inner city, where there were few jobs, poor schools and minimal opportunity for legitimate advancement, leaving behind those unable to afford housing where jobs were, or transportation to get there.

There are some demographic differences that set African American women apart from white women. They are less likely to marry, and more likely to give birth outside of marriage. Some would say this is evidence for the ‘culture of poverty’ thesis–the numbers of blacks who marry is 2/3 of the percent of whites over 18 who are married. Yet Seccombe points out there are sound reasons for this. Unemployment among black men is twice that of white men, and average wage of those employed is lower. Men are less likely to want to take on responsibilities of marriage, and women less likely to see black men as marriageable. In addition, the rate of incarceration of young black men is much higher than for whites, and they are more likely to die a violent death (owing to a higher likelihood of living in high-crime areas).

Where is stigma most stigmatizing?

In public places, especially grocery stores (this should give us pause as we develop our ideas for the hunger project). Women tended to pick their shopping venues carefully, where they feel the atmosphere is more accepting, or at least less judgmental.

Also (remember our discussions of the welfare police) in welfare offices. Descriptions of caseworkers makes them sound like parole officers in disguise. In general, the women interviewed were very careful about who they told they were on welfare.

So, how do women deal with this?

I once did a study of ticket writers at a large university–students called them the ‘parking nazis,’ because they would park illegally and get tickets. The faculty, staff and administration, of course, appreciated them, because they were there to make sure that spots were available in lots and not being used by non-paying parkers. The ticket writers themselves had their own rationale. ‘I’m just doing my job,’ or ‘I wouldn’t expect special treatment if it were me’ (C. Wright Mills referred to this as ‘vocabulary of motive’). They were visible targets in a larger system (that generated close to $1 million in revenue for the university per year), and took the brunt of the criticism because they were on the front lines. Seccombe’s study suggests that a certain portion of the population feels that receiving public assistance entitles others to make public comments and judgments.

The women in Seccombe’s book have their own means of dealing with the stigmatization they experience. Denial that it occurs was common. Or dismissal of criticism as unimportant (‘I’m not affected by it, I don’t care what they say . . . ‘). There were some women for whom the experience was so common, they felt little stigmatization. For them welfare was the norm, and not something that they were trying to avoid or escape from (if you think about the definition of culture, this probably comes close to a group of people with similar beliefs, values, and expectations about welfare and/or opportunity).

Other women distanced themselves–they’d use euphemisms (‘I receive state aid’). Some would try to portray a middle class image (e.g., in the clothing they or their children wore). Some would criticize other women on welfare, who were the lazy, unmotivated types (they on the other hand, were often the victims of misfortune). We discussed in class how many of these mothers didn’t seem to think of themselves as part of a social class, and instead would even criticize others on welfare as cheats, claim mothers would have more children to increase the size of their monthly checks, and that they often came from families that had been on the welfare rolls from one generation to the next (the culture of poverty argument).

‘My case is different.’ Women’s own circumstances are not their fault, but other women could be held responsible. This is referred to by social psychologists as the fundamental error of attribution.

The importance of motherhood. Women are taking care of their children, and that’s what is most important. Many tended to focus on being a good mother (while perceiving others focused narrowly on them being ‘welfare mothers’), and putting the needs of their children above their own, even if this meant foregoing their entry into the workforce.

One thing that stands out in the chapter: Dawn, the mother described at the beginning, had four children starting when she was 13 years old. Now in her early 30s, her children are older, and can actually help her around the house. Having older children may help her return to the workforce and realize her dream of becoming self-sufficient and finding a decent-paying job (she’s taken business and computer training). While it may not be likely that women begin motherhood at such an early age to allow them to enter the workforce sooner, there is no doubt that mothers around the world benefit from their offspring getting older and more mature so that they can help around the house (in the third world, especially if they have daughters). This isn’t intended in any way as a judgment on young motherhood. Just an observation on the demographics of young motherhood.

• Erving Goffman. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hall.
• Nancy Goodban. 1985. The psychological impact of being on welfare. Social Service Review 59(3):403-22.
• Robin Jarrett. 1996. Welfare stigma among low-income, African-American single mothers.
  Family Relations 45(4):368-374
• C. Wright Mills. 1963. Situated actions and the vocabulary of motives. In I.R. Horowitz (ed) Power, Politics, and People: The Collected Essays of C. Wright Mills. NY: Oxford Publishing.
• Rank, M. R. (1994). A view from the inside out: Recipients’ perceptions of
  welfare. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare 21: 27-47.