Deniable Degradation: The Finger-Imaging of Welfare Recipients

Using finger-imaging of welfare recipients as an example, the concept of deniable degradation is delineated as a counterpoint to Garfinkel's notion of degradation ceremonies. Deniable degradation involves the use of procedures that can be legitimated in instrumental terms, but that also evoke cultural symbols of humiliation and degradation. Responses of welfare recipients to finger-imaging, drawn from interviews and other qualitative sources, reveal a mixture of themes, ranging from approval of finger-imaging because it enables them to distance themselves from welfare fraud to outrage at a procedure that is viewed as criminalizing welfare receipt.