Black Women as Scapegoats: The Mass Incarceration of Black Men and the Social Stigma of the Welfare Queen

• In Event: Posters I

Abstract

The current project seeks to outline literature that can best serve to address the question: “How does the incarceration of Black men effect their family structure and in turn the perception of Black single mothers as welfare queens?” We outline current literature in regards to incarceration rates of Black men, Black family structure, distribution of social resources to Black women and social stigma associated with Black female welfare recipients. According to the literature, 3 % of all U.S. Black males are in prison; 6.3 times the White rate (Blumstein, 2014) , incarceration rates have a devastating effect on the social, political, and economic well-being of Black Americans (Brak, Flavin, and Leighton 2001; Mauer 1997; Tonry 1995) , family structures that deviate from the hegemonic nuclear model are “seen as at odds with the norms of independence and economic self-reliance that underpin dominant images of American families” (Fineman, 1995), and “black single mothers are often scapegoated as both the cause and the consequence of society’s disintegration” (Flavin 2001). Given what is known about these dynamics, the outlined literature can help to provide a framework that could explain the social stigma of Black single mothers as welfare queens.

Authors

• Keiondra Grace, Western Michigan University

• Olivia McLaughlin, Western Michigan University