The long shadow of territorial stigma: Upward social mobility and the symbolic baggage of the old neighbourhood

Abstract

In recent years, a burgeoning number of studies have shed light on the lived experience of territorial stigma. However, the vibrant academic discourse on the stigma of place focuses almost exclusively on residents living in marginalised neighbourhoods: it either overlooks or simplifies the lived experience of ‘moving out’ and ‘up’. Building upon 43 biographical interviews with individuals who experienced upward social mobility and were raised in stigmatised neighbourhoods in Germany, this article argues that the experience of exiting from the symbolic bottom of the urban structure is a more complex and conflictual one. In particular, this work sheds light on how former residents learn to relate to the symbolic baggage of having once lived in a notorious neighbourhood. By analysing the three prevailing coping strategies they engage in, the article shifts attention to the prolonged and lasting impact of territorial stigmatisation.