Welfare Shame and Ageing in Neoliberal Australia: An Ethnographic Comparison of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Beneficiaries

This study explores how older female Indigenous and Anglo-Australian welfare recipients handle welfare shame under Australia’s neoliberal welfare reform. Since the punitive welfare system was introduced in the 1990s, shaming has served as a disciplinary function for ethnic groups on welfare payments to learn normalised behaviour that complies with the liberal values of economic productivity and individual responsibility. However, shaming responses vary depending on cultural contexts. Drawing on the concept of shame as cultural boundary making, this study examines the lived welfare experiences of older women in both groups and how they perceive and handle welfare shame, with a focus on social bonds and care ethics. This ethnographic study was conducted in the northern and north-western suburbs of Adelaide, Australia, intermittently between 2012 and 2019. The results show that older Indigenous Australian women, who have been historically exposed to welfare stigma and engage in their own cultural practice of demand-sharing in their community, deal with shame better than Anglo-Australian women, who have internalised neoliberal values and cope with welfare shame individually. This study argues that establishing social connections over time and practising mutual help based on care ethics among community members can help the ageing population cope with welfare shame.