Seccombe Ch. 3- One of Her Contentions

In Chapter 3 there is a section titled 'Managing Stigma' where Seccombe explains that many welfare recipients try to hide from others that they are receiving welfare because of the stigma that is attached to it. It is said that it is easy to hide it in some contexts, such as with friends or family; however, it's difficult in other contexts, such as in grocery stores when using food stamps. Seccombe states that there are four primary strategies for coping with the stigma attached to using welfare: denial, distancing themselves from other women who used welfare, blaming external forces and denying that using welfare was their fault, and extolling the importance of motherhood. This post is going to discuss more thoroughly the first strategy of denial.
It is stated that some women who receive welfare denied that they had encountered negative attitudes against them. Seccombe explains that denying that negative attitudes have occured prevents these women from feeling bad, guilty or embarassed. Seccombe also states that several women suggested that people had been especially kind to them when they revealed they were on welfare; however, this is not the case for everyone. In another important form of denial a few women seemed genuinely unaware of the stigma attached to welfare recipients. This is because they rarely interacted with people who weren't receiveing welfare (pg. 65). "These women likely lived in one of the several large housing projects, they associated primarily with other women who recieve welfare, and they shopped at the neighborhood store which is considered "user friendly" to welfare recipients...." (pg. 65). Also discussed was that a few women successfully avoided the stigma associated with welfare by avoiding people and/or places where they would be likely to encounter the stigma. Seccombe explains that welfare use may be viewed as something that is common to a small number of women. This is said to give the "general public the exaggerated and false notion, a racialized one, that the majority of welfare recipients live within a seperate subculture, with values that are at odds with those of hardworking Americans" (pg.65).