FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN : A scoping study on the experience of stigmatization and shame around financial assistance

Social assistance aims to help and support people who are in financial vulnerable situations and are in need of help with their livelihood. Financial assistance can be experienced differently depending on who is talking about it. For some people that receive assistance, it can be experienced as a burden and be something difficult, but for other people that receive assistance it can be experienced as a positive solution. The fact that financial assistance can differ in perceptions is based on various aspects. The purpose of the following study is to investigate why financial assistance can be experienced as stigmatizing, and to examine how this can lead to feelings of shame. The study has two research questions: (1) Why can financial assistance be experienced as stigmatizing? (2) How can the stigmatization around financial assistance lead to feelings of shame? To answer the two questions, the method that was used was a scoping study and the empirical data in the form of scientific articles and doctoral thesis was collected through literature searches. The results show that financial assistance can be experienced as stigmatizing because of the social workers attitudes towards the welfare recipients. Associated with the negative attitudes are the undeniable characteristics that are attributed toward welfare recipients. The welfare recipients are marked as deviant and different by society. Which invariably strengthens the stigma. It also shows how the negative attitudes from social workers have an impact on the power relationship between the social worker and the welfare recipient, which can lead to a stigmatized feeling of having to seek help. Financial assistance aims to be a temporary solution for people in need of financial support. Studies show that when a welfare recipient develops a long-term need it can be considered deviant because the person does not match the purpose of the help. The results further show that the stigma associated with financial assistance can lead to feelings of shame because of the loss of independence and limited autonomy for the welfare recipient. Being dependent on help can for many people be experienced as a failure, which further can result in feelings of shame. The feelings of shame can also be based on the need to live with a minimum standard with the money that financial assistance offers.