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The Stigma of Homelessness: The Impact of the Label "Homeless" on Attitudes Toward Poor Persons*
Poor people have long been stigmatized and blamed for their situation. According to theory about stigma and about inequality-legitimating ideologies, homeless people should be stigmatized even more severely than the "generic poor" Recent research suggests that the opposite may be true, but the data used in comparing attitudes toward homeless and other poor people have not been strictly comparable. Thus the conclusions that can be drawn are limited. Using a vignette experiment designed to directly compare attitudes toward a homeless and a domiciled poor man and to compare the effects of being labeled homeless with those of being labeled mentally ill, we find that (I ) the homeless man is blamed no less than the domiciled man and generally is stigmatized more severely; (2) the strength of the stigma attached to the "homelessness" label equals that for mental hospitalization; and (3) the stigmas of homelessness and mental hospitalization are independent of one another. Thus, in addition to the hardships of the homeless condition itself, homeless people suffer stigmatization by their fellow citizens. The results also suggest that the robust tendency to blame the disadvantaged for their predicament holds true for modern homelessness as well.
Goffman (1963) characterizes stigma as an attribute that is socially defined as "deeply discrediting" (p. 3), spoiling one's identity and disqualifying one from full social acceptance. Thus stigma involves both extreme negative perceptions and social rejection of the marked individual. Historical records and opinion surveys document that AngloAmericans have stigmatized poor people since the Middle Ages.l Between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries, the English Poor Laws and similar policies in the United States enforced a variety of harsh and stigmatizing measures. Destitute persons were separated from society and were relegated to workhouses (which were sometimes combined with jails), in which rights of citizenship were withdrawn, families were separated, and work was difficult and demeaning (de Schweinitz 1961; Feagin 1975).
Many of these policies were clearly intended to stigmatize. For example, those receiving public assistance were required to wear distinctive clothing and badges (Feagin 1975; R. Page 1984; Spicker 1984), which were "rightly ordered to be fix'd as some public Marks of Shame" (Alcock 1752:17)....