Introduction

This chapter develops the material in the previous chapter by looking at the concepts of stigma and shame. Central to understanding the issue of shame is the concept of ‘respectability’, which Skeggs (1997) powerfully argues is one of the most ‘ubiquitous signifiers of class’ (p 1) and which constitutes both a ‘marker and a burden of class’ (p 3). The ideas of shame and respectability have long been central to narratives about poverty and provided the foundation of notions about the ‘undeserving poor’, and they provide a really important mechanism that allows poverty propaganda to work. At one and the same time shame is both a cause and a consequence of poverty propaganda. People in poverty strongly buy into dominant narratives about the supposed feckless behaviour of people experiencing poverty – at least as applying to others – and this allows poverty propaganda to work to garner consent for policies that penalise, stigmatise and deepen poverty for those on low incomes (Shildrick and MacDonald, 2013).

Poverty: stigma and shame

That shame is associated with poverty is nothing new, but the increasing emphasis on conspicuous consumption and focus on individual responsibility, aspiration and achievement really throw this issue into sharp relief as it becomes ever more clear that poverty has not just material and physical effects but psychosocial ones too (Lister, 2004; Baumberg et al, 2012; Walker, 2014; Walker and Chase, 2015).