The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the Welfare Queen. By Ange-Marie Hancock. New York: New York University Press, 2004. 216p. $60.00 cloth, $20.00 paper.

Even the casual observer of politics knows that the very mention of the word “welfare” elicits a visceral, negative reaction from many (e.g., see Tom W. Smith, “That Which We Call Welfare by Any Other Name Would Smell Sweeter,” Public Opinion Quarterly 51 [Fall 1987]: 75–83). In The Politics of Disgust, Ange-Marie Hancock explains that this reaction is a result of the well-ingrained public identity of the welfare recipient, an identity that so marginalizes this group as to lead to their almost complete exclusion from the political process.