The “Welfare Queen” in Israel and the US: The Role of Cultural Repertoires in the (De-)Stigmatization of Welfare Rights Activists

In a comparative research focusing on Israel and the US, I use critical discourse analysis to media discourses on welfare reforms and welfare rights activists in four major daily newspapers in Israel and Massachusetts. By comparing public discourses in the two countries, my study demonstrates the role of national myths and cultural repertoires in responses to neoliberalism. Despite Israel’s embracing of neoliberal policies, I identify a theoretically significant cultural and discursive gap between social policy logic and public discourse. I show how this gap is rooted in cultural repertoires, racial dynamics, and gendered national ideologies that provide an alternative reference point for the Israeli welfare rights movement. Based on my comparison of civic engagement in place-specific public spaces I argue that the existence of a discursive gap between policy and media discourse indicates a powerful potential for social resistance, which is crucial for the study of democratic societies. This cultural gap was critically absent from the American debate, thus making the American movement less effective in shaping media discourse. By comparing the US and Israel, my study contributes further empirical data and potently demonstrates the cultural dimension of stigmatization and its relationship to racial and gendered ideologies. Furthermore, my study shows how movements can challenge racial and gendered stigmatization, and how culture-specific routes for de-stigmatization can facilitate public participation among marginalized populations