"Trailer Trash" Stigma and Belonging in Florida Mobile Home Parks

Abstract

In the United States, residents of mobile homes and mobile home communities are faced with cultural stigmatization regarding their places of living. While common, the "trailer trash" stigma, an example of both housing and neighborhood/territorial stigma, has been understudied in contemporary research. Through a range of discursive strategies, many subgroups within this larger population manage to successfully distance themselves from the stigma and thereby render it inconsequential (Kusenbach, 2009). But what about those residents - typically white, poor, and occasionally lacking in stability - who do not have the necessary resources to accomplish this? This article examines three typical responses by low-income mobile home residents - here called resisting, downplaying, and perpetuating - leading to different outcomes regarding residents’ sense of community belonging. The article is based on the analysis of over 150 qualitative interviews with mobile home park residents conducted in West Central Florida between 2005 and 2010.