Jessica S. Welburn

African Americans respond to stigmatization: the meanings and salience of confronting, deflecting conflict, educating the ignorant and ‘managing the self’

Abstract Drawing on interviews with 150 randomly sampled African Americans, we analyse how members of a stigmatized group understand their experience of stigmatization and assess appropriate responses when asked about the best approach to deal with stigmatization and about responses to specific incidents. Combining in-depth interviews with a systematic coding of the data, we make original contributions to the previous literature by identifying the relative salience of modalities and tools for responding. We also examine closely through qualitative data the two most salient modalities of response, ‘confronting’ and ‘deflating’ conflict, the most salient tools, teaching out-group members about African Americans, and ‘the management of the self’, a rationale for deflating conflict that is largely overlooked in previous studies. We find that ‘confronting’ is the more popular modality for responding to stigmatization among African Americans.

Stop ‘blaming the man’: perceptions of inequality and opportunities for success in the Obama era among middle-class African Americans

Abstract This paper builds upon work that has shown that African Americans exhibit a dual consciousness when explaining persistent inequality. We draw upon 45 in-depth interviews with middle-class African Americans following the 2008 election to explore how they explain persistent disadvantage for African Americans, the destigmatization strategies they employ, and the impact they believe the election of Barack Obama will have on opportunities for African Americans. Consistent with dual consciousness theory, we find that respondents explain persistent disadvantage for African Americans by citing structural and motivational factors. We also extend previous work to show that for the majority of respondents the use of individualistic de-stigmatization strategies reinforces their dual consciousness. These respondents are optimistic about Obamas election because it supports their belief that African Americans should assume responsibility for improving their circumstances. A minority of respondents express more concern about the persistence of racial inequality, and consequentially are less optimistic about changes that Obamas election may bring about.

Responses to Discrimination and Social Resilience Under Neoliberalism

Members of stigmatized groups often live with the expectation that they will be overscrutinized, overlooked, underappreciated, misunderstood, and disrespected in the course of their daily lives. How do they interpret and respond to this lived reality? What resources do they have at their disposal to do so? How are their responses shaped by neoliberalism? How can responses to stigmatization foster social resilience?

From the study of racism to destigmatization and the transformation of group boundaries

From the study of racism to destigmatization and the transformation of group boundaries Michèle Lamont and Jessica Welburn Department of Sociology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA; Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA; Department of Sociology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA; Department of African American Studies, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA

Formen des Umgangs mit Diskriminierung und soziale Resilienz im Neoliberalismus

Angehorige stigmatisierter Gruppen leben oft mit der Erwartung, im taglichen Leben besonders kritisch beaugt, ubersehen, unterschatzt, missverstanden und respektlos behandelt zu werden.