Struggling with Poverty: Implications for Theory and Policy of Increasing Research on Social Class‐Based Stigma

Abstract

Low‐income people are stigmatized in a number of ways, including being negatively stereotyped and discriminated against both interpersonally and institutionally (see Lott & Bullock, 2007 for a comprehensive review). Yet psychologists have not focused much attention on social class in general, nor on social class‐based stigma in particular. This article argues that by resolving three main problems in the literature (the achieved/ascribed discrepancy, the complexity of operationalizing social class, and the seeming lack of identification with one's social class), psychologists are in a unique position to use their knowledge to aid practitioners and policymakers in ameliorating the consequences of poverty. Thus, this article focuses on how better to incorporate social class into the stigma literature and how this research can be linked to social policy initiatives.