Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2012
Publication Title
Ethnic and Racial Studies
Abstract
Drawing on interviews with 150 randomly sampled African Americans, we analyse how members of a stigmatized group understand their experience of stigmatization and assess appropriate responses when asked about the best approach to deal with stigmatization and about responses to specific incidents. Combining in-depth interviews with a systematic coding of the data, we make original contributions to the previous literature by identifying the relative salience of modalities and tools for responding. We also examine closely through qualitative data the two most salient modalities of response, 'confronting' and 'deflating' conflict, the most salient tools, teaching out-group members about African Americans, and 'the management of the self', a rationale for deflating conflict that is largely overlooked in previous studies. We find that 'confronting' is the more popular modality for responding to stigmatization among African Americans.
Keywords
African Americans, anti-racism, boundaries, identity, racial discrimination, stigma
Volume
35
Issue
3
First Page
400
Last Page
417
DOI
10.1080/01419870.2011.589527
ISSN
01419870
Version
Author's Accepted Manuscript
Recommended Citation
Fleming, Crystal M.; Lamont, Michèle; and Welburn, Jessica S., "African Americans Respond to Stigmatization: The Meanings and Salience of Confronting, Deflecting Conflict, Educating the Ignorant and 'Managing the Self'" (2012). Africana Studies: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/afr_facpubs/26