The Social Bases of Welfare Stigma

Abstract

Use of the concept of welfare stigma suggests the theoretical framework of the labeling approach to deviance. In a review of issues from that literature, we distinguish between feelings of shame and expectations of liability as possible responses to a stigmatized role. We argue that the former reflects a more extreme internalization of the deviant label and use this measure of stigma in our study of the social bases of welfare stigma for a sample of Southern AFDC recipients. Our data show that education, age, and time on AFDC have positive net effects on stigma, while familiarity with a local WRO has a negative effect.