Welfare Stigma among Low-Income, African American Single Mothers

Abstract

This article conceptualizes the stigmatization process that is associated with the use of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) programs. A symbolic interactionist perspective that delineates the dynamics of stigma is used to frame the experiences of impoverished African American women who participate in such programs. Findings from a series of qualitative focus group interviews are used to assess current discussions of stigma and to inform efforts to reduce stigma. Past research documents that social stigma is associated with the use of public assistance programs (Rank, 1994). Participation in such programs is sometimes used as evidence that recipients hold deviant work orientations and that they should be labeled with a discredited status (Nichols-Casebolt, 1986). In recent years, relative to other public assistance programs, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) has been the most stigmatized of all (Block, Cloward, Ehrenreich, & Piven, 1987). At its inception, the AFDC program primarily served widows and their children. However, over the past three decades, it has shifted from a focus on divorced and separated women and their children to include never-married, African American women and their children (Quadagno, 1994). The inclusion of unmarried women has paralleled the view that AFDC increasingly serves the undeserving poor (Katz, 1989; Kelso, 1994; Mead, 1986; Murray, 1984). Quantitative and qualitative studies provide important insights into the relationship between social stigma and public assistance programs, including AFDC. Quantitative studies have identified key correlates of stigma and their relationship to economic, social, and psychologi cal outcomes (Horan & Austin, 1974; Kerbo, 1972; Lowenberg, 1981; Murray, 1984; Nichols-Casebolt, 1986). Qualitative research has described how AFDC recipients manage imputed stigma in their daily lives (Jeffers, 1967; Rank, 1994; Rogers-Dillon, 1995; Rosier & Corsaro, 1993; Stack, 1974; Valentine, 1978). These bodies of research address important substantive issues in the study of social stigma and public assistance programs, yet the correlational and descriptive nature of their analyses obscure more general dynamics. In light of the increasing denigration of impoverished African American women who use AFDC programs, a broader understanding of the stigmatization process is needed. The primary goal of this study is to conceptualize the stigmatization process that is associated with the use of AFDC programs. Expanding upon existing studies that are largely correlational and descriptive in nature, this article uses a symbolic interactionist perspective to frame the experiences of African American women who use such programs. Four research questions guided this study: 1. How do women perceive social stigma as it relates to their status as AFDC recipients? 2. What have been women's experiences of discriminatory treatment as AFDC recipients? 3. What strategies do women use to manage stigmatized perceptions and treatment? 4. How do women's perceptions and experiences as AFDC recipients affect their attitudes toward government reform efforts? I address several points in the discussion. First, I review qualitative and quantitative studies on stigma and public assistance programs. Second, I discuss how a symbolic interactionist perspective addresses the limitations of existing studies. Third, I describe the sample and research methods. Focus group interviewing procedures are discussed as they were conducted with a sample of African American single mothers who received AFDC. Next, I present findings from the qualitative group interviews using verbatim quotes that highlight women's perceptions and experiences of welfare stigma, as well as resulting coping strategies. I then discuss the implications of the research findings and consider how they inform current theoretical discussions of stigma and efforts to reduce stigma. …