Race, class and the stigma of place: Moving to “opportunity” in Eastern Iowa

Abstract

In this paper, we explore how the stigmatization of place is transported to new destinations and negotiated by those who carry it. Additionally, we discuss the implications of ‘spatial stigmatization’ for the health and well-being of those who relocate from discursively condemned places such as high-poverty urban neighborhoods. Specifically, we analyze in-depth interviews conducted with 25 low-income African American men and women who have moved from urban neighborhoods in Chicago to predominantly white small town communities in eastern Iowa. These men and women, who moved to Iowa in the context of gentrification and public housing demolition, describe encountering pervasive stigmatization that is associated not only with race and class, but also with defamed notions of Chicago neighborhoods.

The Stigma Complex

“…More interestingly, the social arenas in which stigma was considered swelled to include financial issues, e.g., bankruptcy (Metzl & Hansen 2014, Sullivan et al 2006, Thorne & Anderson 2006), poverty (Reutter et al 2009), coupon using (Argo & Main 2008); family and relationship issues, e.g., singlehood (Byrne & Carr 2005), voluntary childlessness (Park 2002), infertility (Donkor & Sandall 2007), abortion (Kumar et al 2009), family leave (Rudman & Mescher 2013), sexual orientation (Herek 2004); the uptake of social benefits, e.g., Medicaid (Palmer et al 2004), public housing (Stuber & Kronebusch 2004); “place,” e.g., neighborhood (Keene & Padilla 2010, Kelaher et al 2010, Sampson & Raudenbush 2004); and crime, e.g., felony history (Behrens 2004), incarceration (Schnittker & John 2007), sexual assault (Gibson & Leitenberg 2001). A pastiche of other stigma topics addressed during this period targeted the college athlete (Simons et al 2007), blacklisted artists during Hollywood’s Red Scare (Pontikes et al 2010), former child soldiers (Betancourt et al 2010), nonnative accents (Gluszek & Dovidio 2010), gambling (Horch & Hodgins 2008), stripping (Trautner & Collett 2010), suicide survivors (Cvinar 2005), hopelessness (Kidd 2007), and racial economic discrimination (Loury 2003).…”

“…However, in the period following the turn of the century, that distinction has been blurred in part by sociology’s greater recognition of other similar disciplinary lines of research, particularly psychological social psychology (Link & Phelan 2001, Major & O’Brien 2005). Signaling a move from the focus on establishing the contemporary levels of stigma, both in the United States and internationally, research over the past 14 years has begun to look more closely at the complexity of stigma; at comparisons across time, place, and substantive cases; and at novel uses (e.g., stigma of place such as neighborhoods; Keene & Padilla 2010, Kelaher et al 2010, Sampson & Raudenbush 2004). Although removing historical lines of separation in research agendas increases the potential for theoretical elaboration and innovation, it also calls for greater clarification of concepts and measurement and a reassessment of the impact of stigma on inequality.…”

“Weathering” HOPE VI: The Importance of Evaluating the Population Health Impact of Public Housing Demolition and Displacement

“…23,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] We also draw insights from in-depth interviews that we conducted with relocated public housing residents in Atlanta, Georgia, and with former Chicago public housing residents who had moved to eastern Iowa in the context of widespread public housing demolition and gentrification. 24,37 DOES HOPE VI SUCCESSFULLY MOVE PEOPLE TO "HEALTHIER" ENVIRONMENTS?…”

Socio-spatial stigmatization and its ‘incorporation’ in the centre of Athens, Greece

“…Some researchers (and especially policymakers) followed the contested 'area' or 'neighbourhood effects' approach, while others have been driven by policy discussing the successes, failures and lessons learned from implemented programmes (Atkinson and Kintrea 2001;Hastings and Dean 2003;Lupton 2003;Musterd, Ostendorf, and De Vos 2003;Permentier 2009). Others have been concerned with how stigma of place affects the health, well-being or life chances of stigmatized areas asserting that in many cases its effects are adverse, including diminished access to public services and welfare and increased possibility of discrimination in employment and in the justice system (Warr 2005;Keene and Padilla 2010). Increasingly researchers examine how residents of stigmatized places react to the stigma (and to the subsequent interventions) while ethnographic work has provided significant insights into the internal organization of stigmatized places, often challenging perceptions of homogeneity or 'moral decline' (Anderson 2003;Blokland 2003).…”