Discrimination as Stigma: A Theory of Anti-discrimination Law

249 Pages·2017·1.96 MB·English

by  Iyiola Solanke

DISCRIMINATION AS STIGMA
This book reconceptualises discrimination law as fundamentally concerned with
stigma. Using sociological and socio-psychological theories of stigma, the author
presents an ‘antistigma principle’, promoting it as a method to determine the scope
of legal protection from discrimination. The anti-stigma principle recognises the
role of institutional and individual action in the perpetuation of discrimination.
Setting discrimination law within the field of public health, it frames positive
action and intersectional discrimination as the norm in this field of law rather than
the exception. In developing and applying this new theory for antidiscrimination
law, the book draws upon case law from jurisdictions including the UK, Australia,
New Zealand, the USA and Canada, as well as European law.
ii
Discrimination as Stigma
A Theory of Anti-discrimination Law
Iyiola Solanke
OXFORD AND PORTLAND, OREGON
2017
Hart Publishing
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First published 2017
© Iyiola Solanke 2017
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identified as Author of this work.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-84946-738-4
ePDF: 978-1-78225-637-3
ePub: 978-1-78225-638-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Solanke, Iyiola, author.
Title: Discrimination as stigma : a theory of anti-discrimination law / Iyiola Solanke.
Description: Oxford ; Portland, Oregon : Hart Publishing, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016037919 (print) | LCCN 2016038126 (ebook) | ISBN 9781849467384
(hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781782256380 (Epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Discrimination—Law and legislation—Social aspects. | Equality. | Stigma
(Social psychology) | Discrimination—Law and legislation—Great Britain. | Discrimination—Law and
legislation—United States.
Classification: LCC K3242 .S657 2017 (print) | LCC K3242 (ebook) | DDC 342.08/701—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037919
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PREFACE
On 8 November 2016, just before this book went to press, Donald Trump, a
billionaire businessman with no experience of public office at any level, was elected
45th President of the United States of America. During his campaign, he was heard
boasting about sexual harassment of women, promised to ban all Muslims from
entering the USA and described Mexican immigrants as drug dealers and rap-
ists. His victory despite overt sexism and racism confirms that there remain deep,
dark wells of social hatred and hostility towards women and minority groups; and
not only in the USA but—as made clear by the UK Referendum on ‘Brexit’—also
in the UK. It is almost as if the last 50 years of anti-discrimination law did not
happen; and there is good reason to expect rapid reversal of the progress that has
been made. The need for effective legal protection from and prevention of dis-
crimination remains. Yet how to secure this? The aim of this book is to contribute
to this important task.
Like most monographs, it progressed through workshops, conferences and
seminars before becoming a book proposal—in many ways it is the culmination
of a line of enquiry that began in 2007 at University of Michigan School of Law,
where I was a Jean Monnet Fellow working on EU law. During my time there,
engagement with the issue of intersectional discrimination and the search for its
legal form brought me to question the role of immutability in anti-discrimination
law and to wonder about the relationship between stigma and discrimination.
Some of these musings have already been published and the theory set out in the
current book is therefore a continuation of this previous work.
There are many to thank for the privilege of being able to commit time to
write a theory of anti-discrimination law. I am indebted to numerous people for
helping me to access the necessary resources. These include Nicola Lacey, Rosa
Greaves, colleagues at Wake Forest School of Law and those at the School of Law
in the University of Leeds—especially Clive Walker, Louise Ellison, Julie Wallbank,
Shirley Tate and Ian Law. Thanks in particular to Colleen Sheppard, Catherine
Barnard and Belinda Smith, I was able to spend many productive hours work-
ing in the world-class libraries at the University of McGill, the University of
Cambridge and the University of Sydney, reading and talking about stigma,
human rights and anti-discrimination law. It was in the McGill Law School library
that I first encountered the diaries of John Humphries. A special mention must
also go to members of the Interdisciplinary Research Network on Discrimination
and Inclusion at the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism for
vi Preface
taking an interest in this work. The generous support of these institutions—
especially the Parsons Fellowship at the University of Sydney—is gratefully
acknowledged.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the team at Hart
Publishing—Commissioning Editor Bill Asquith for seeing the potential in the
book proposal; Production Editors Alan Worth, John Hort and Anne Flegel; as
well as Emma Platt and Annie Mirza—I am indebted to you all for your patience,
assistance and guidance.
Emotional support is an equally essential resource for the completion of aca-
demic work. Such an ambitious project would not have been possible without
the fellowship, friendship and ongoing encouragement of many people. Heartfelt
appreciation goes to those who spurred me on when I needed it most, including
Flo and Rudy Dixon, PJ and Blake Morant, Donovan and Lauren MacGrath.
Last but not least, I pay tribute to my adventurous parents, my inspirational
siblings and the coming generation—Tobias, Kamikun, Asher and Rere: I dedicate
this book to you.
Iyiola Solanke
CONTENTS
Preface �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������v
Table of Cases ............................................................................................................xi
Table of Legislation...................................................................................................xxi
Introduction ...............................................................................................................1
I. Construction of the Anti-stigma Principle ............................................8
II. Application of the Anti-stigma Principle ............................................12
1. Stigma ................................................................................................................17
I. Defining Stigma ....................................................................................18
II. Erwin Goffman and Stigma .................................................................23
III. The Process of Stigmatisation ..............................................................24
IV. Developments in the Theory of Stigma ...............................................27
A. Three Models of Stigmatisation ...................................................28
B. Structural Stigma—Beyond the face-to-face ...............................29
V. Power .....................................................................................................34
VI. Conclusion ............................................................................................36
2. Legal Protection from Discrimination .............................................................39
I. Introduction ..........................................................................................39
II. Equality and Inequality in Political Philosophy ..................................40
III. The Anti-discrimination Principle in International Law ...................41
IV. Closed Lists ...........................................................................................43
V. Open Lists .............................................................................................47
VI. Dignity, Immutability and the
Anti-discrimination Principle ..............................................................49
VII. The Limits of Dignity ...........................................................................51
VIII. The Idea of Immutability .....................................................................54
IX. Conclusion ............................................................................................60
3. Stigma and Litigation .......................................................................................63
I. Goffman in Legal Scholarship ..............................................................64
A. Australia .........................................................................................65
B. England and Wales ........................................................................66
C. Canada ...........................................................................................72
II. Litigation in Europe ..............................................................................75
viii Contents
A. The European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg......................................................................................76
B. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ..........................78
C. South Africa ...................................................................................80
III. Conclusion ............................................................................................81
4. The Anti-stigma Principle ................................................................................84
I. Linking Interpersonal and Structural Stigma .....................................85
A. Critical Approaches to Stigma ......................................................85
B. Models of Stigma ..........................................................................87
II. Models of Stigma and Public Health ...................................................93
III. The Discrimination Virus.....................................................................97
IV. Conclusion ..........................................................................................101
5. Public Action to Combat Discrimination ......................................................103
I. Tackling a Public Health Virus: The Ebola
Outbreak of 2014 ................................................................................106
II. The Transmission of Stigma ...............................................................110
A. ‘Go Home or Face Arrest’ ...........................................................113
III. Positive Action and the Public Sector
Equality Duty (PSED) ........................................................................117
A. Positive Action in the Equality Act 2010 ....................................118
B. The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)in the
Equality Act 2010 ........................................................................122
IV. Public Action to Tackle the Virus
of Discrimination ...............................................................................127
V. Conclusion ..........................................................................................131
6. Stigma, Synergy and Intersectionality............................................................133
I. Understanding Intersectional Discrimination ..................................134
A. Job Security .................................................................................135
B. Professional Progress ..................................................................136
II. Categorisation in Anti-discrimination Law.......................................138
III. Addressing Intersectional Discrimination .........................................143
A. Rejection: Adherence to the Single
Dimension Theory ......................................................................144
B. Accommodation: The Sex Plus Theory......................................146
C. Disruption: The Anti-stigma Theory .........................................150
IV. Applying Intersectional Discrimination ............................................152
A. The Comparator ..........................................................................153
B. Sanctions......................................................................................156
V. Conclusion ..........................................................................................157
Contents ix
7. Legal Protection Against ‘Fattism’ ..................................................................160
I. The Application of the Anti-stigma Principle ...................................161
II. Weight-based Stigma and Discrimination ........................................163
A. Applying the Anti-stigma Principle ...........................................164
i. Is the ‘Mark’ Arbitrary or Does It Have Some
Meaning in and of Itself? ..................................................164
ii. Is the Mark Used as a Social Label? ..................................168
iii. Does this Label Have a Long History?
How Embedded Is It in Society? ......................................168
iv. Can the Label Be ‘Wished Away’? .....................................169
v. Is the Label Used to Stereotype Those
Possessing it? .....................................................................169
vi. Does the Stereotype Reduce the Humanity
of Those Who Are Its Targets? Does it evoke
a punitive response? ..........................................................170
vii. Do These Targets Have Low Social Power
and Low Interpersonal Status? .........................................171
viii. Do These Targets Suffer Discrimination
as a Result? .........................................................................172
ix. Do the Targets Suffer Exclusion? ......................................174
x. Is Their Access to Key Resources Blocked? ......................177
III. Fat Phobia and Anti-discrimination Law ..........................................178
A. Tackling Weight Discrimination in Employment
in the USA ...................................................................................178
B. Tackling Weight Discrimination in Employment
in the UK .....................................................................................182
IV. Conclusion ..........................................................................................185
8. Tattoos—Beyond Anti-discrimination Law? .................................................187
I. Appearance at Work ...........................................................................188
II. Legal Responses to Corporate Appearance
Policies and Rules ................................................................................190
A. Race and Sex Discrimination .....................................................190
B. Religious Belief Discrimination .................................................191
III. The Anti-stigma Principle and Tattoos ..............................................193
A. Applying the 10 Questions .........................................................193
i. Is the ‘Mark’ Arbitrary or Does It Have
Some Meaning in and of Itself? ........................................193
ii. Is the Mark Used as a Social Label? ..................................193
iii. Does this Label Have a Long History?
How Embedded Is It in Society? .....................................194
iv. Can the Label Be ‘Wished Away’? .....................................196
v. Is the Label Used to Stereotype Those Possessing It? ......196