Neighbourhood Image, Reputation and Stigma: Implications for Policy

1
Neighbourhood Image, Reputation and Stigma
Implications for Policy

• John Flint
• Sheffield Hallam University
• Tackling Multiple Deprivation in Communities-
• Considering the Evidence
• A Scottish Government Conference
• Edinburgh, 2 June 2009

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Studies of Stigmatisation 1

• 'Every city and town in the UK has
  neighbourhoods which have reputations for
  problems such as poverty, crime, drug abuse and
  physical decay'
• (Hastings and Dean, 2000)

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Studies of Stigmatisation 2

• Suttles (1972) mental geographies or urban
  landscapes
• Residence as a means of performing identity
  (Savage et al., 2005)
• The poor are increasingly identified by where
  they live (McDowell, 2008)

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Research Methods

• Hillside/Primalt NDC area in Knowsley,
  Merseyside.
• Oxgangs in Edinburgh.
• JRF study poverty in face of poverty and poverty
  in face of affluence.
• 60 interviews (non-representative samples).
• Both relatively deprived Hillside/Primalt more
  deprived but less differentiated than its
  surroundings.

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The presence of stigmatisation

• In both areas stigma present
• General and indefinable
• "I know its definitely there."
• Concrete
• "People say to me where do you live and I say X
  and they go 'Oh my God, poor you.'"
• "I think it did have a bad reputation
  becausesome seller was driving up, he said to me
  'what's the area like round here, is it still
  full of scalleys"

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But Differentiation and its Implications

• Fraser (1996) over generalisation in the
  literature
• "People in the areas nearby, they're all the
  same."
• "Its like you go from one bit of Oxgangs,
• literally you can see the first house in Green
  Bank it's a different world."

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Differentiation Explanations

• Immediacy and visibility of difference
• Sites of interaction
• Wider urban localities

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Conclusions

• Differentiated image and stigma within and
  between neighbourhoods
• Uniformity versus gradation and hierarchy
• Linked in complex relationship to perceptions of
  neighbourhood problems, neighbourhood attachment
  and self-esteem
• Non-spatial comparative elements life
  history/peers

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Policy Implications

• Need for more nuanced understanding of stigma,
  including 'ordinariness' and 'hierarchy'
• Limits of perceptions re neighbourhood problems
  and neighbourhood change
• Limitations of 'rebranding' exercises
• Difficulties of social mix (schools etc.)
• Sense of ownership equally or more important?

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References

• Fraser, P. (1996) 'Social and spatial
  relationships and the problem inner city
  Moss-Side in Manchester', Critical Social Policy,
  16, pp. 43- 65.
• Hastings, A. and Dean, J. (2000) 'Challenging
  Images tackling stigma through estate
  regeneration', Policy and Politics, 31(2), pp.
  171-184.
• McDowell, L. (2008) 'Thinking Through Class and
  Gender in the Context of Working Class Studies',
  Antipode, pp. 20-30.
• Savage, M., Bagnall, G. and Longhurst, B. (2005)
  Globalization and belonging, London Sage.
• Suttles, G.D. (1972) The Social Construction of
  Communities, Chicago University of Chicago Press.