The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the Welfare
Queen. By Ange-Marie Hancock. New York: New York University Press,
2004. 216p. $60.00 cloth, $20.00 paper.
Even the casual observer of politics knows that the very mention of
the word “welfare” elicits a visceral, negative reaction from
many (e.g., see Tom W. Smith, “That Which We Call Welfare by Any
Other Name Would Smell Sweeter,” Public Opinion Quarterly
51 [Fall 1987]: 75–83). In The Politics of
Disgust, Ange-Marie Hancock explains that this reaction is a result
of the well-ingrained public identity of the welfare recipient, an
identity that so marginalizes this group as to lead to their almost
complete exclusion from the political process.