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Stigma in an era of medicalisation and anxious parenting: how proximity and culpability shape middle‐class parents’ experiences of disgrace
Author(s) -
Francis Ara
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2011.01445.x
Subject(s) - culpability , psychology , stigma (botany) , developmental psychology , social class , social psychology , psychiatry , criminology , political science , law
This study examines the stigma experiences of middle‐class parents whose children have physical, psychological and behavioural problems. Qualitative interviews with 34 mothers and 21 fathers demonstrate that parents experience two types of stigma: courtesy stigma and the stigma of being a bad parent. While the former stems from close social proximity to stigmatised children, the latter stems from ostensible culpability for children’s problems. Both characteristics are social constructs embedded in the larger contexts of an anxious, intensive parenting culture and the problematisation and medicalisation of childhood. As a consequence, mothers, parents whose children have invisible disabilities, and the parents of young children are particularly susceptible to negative labelling. These findings highlight the constructed and political nature of parents’ stigmatisation.