Stigma, Political Power, and the Right to Belong

Demonstrating how stigmatization is perpetuated through the interconnection of institutions and popular culture, this book examines the consequences of states’ usage of stigma to disenfranchise vulnerable groups in a systemic way across demographics and geographies.

Stigma, Political Power, and the Right to Belong details the modes of exclusion that limit political participation and establishes the theoretical foundation for ruling stigma, the process by which states leverage a series of mechanisms to justify inequality. With a focus on how governments’ implementation of stigma is perpetuated by ordinary, everyday people, this book outlines how democracy is actively undermined by stigma and how a focus on the quality of care and interaction between all citizens can overcome discrimination. By enshrining belonging as a legal standard and protecting human dignity and integrating an ethic of care into political theory and state practice, democracies can aid the cultivation of solidarity, plurality, communication, and trust – highlighting how the right to belong can combat the discrimination and disenfranchisement that results from the complex political process of stigmatization.

Illuminated throughout by data-driven analysis and four differing case studies that investigate the incarceration of Black Americans in the United States, LGBT free zones in Poland, the internment of the Uyghurs in the PRC, and unsanctioned killings of Transgender people in Mexico, this book is essential for students and researchers in sociology, political, and cultural studies.