Browsing by Subject "East Helsinki"

This thesis studies the negative labeling of a neighborhood or territorial stigmatization in a residential suburb of Helsinki called Mellunmäki. The purpose of this thesis is to find out whether a territorial stigma features in local residents accounts of the area. The theoretical framework for this thesis is drawn from Loic Wacquant’s idea of a territorial stigma. Wacquant proposes that a negative label or a stigma easily becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, when the residents of stigmatized areas begin to look for ways of distancing from their neighbors and begin to blame neighbors for the area’s alleged hardships. Another theoretical tool to better study the topic in the Finnish context is drawn from previous research on media depictions of Finnish residential suburbs or lähiös through recent decades. The data has been collected by semi-structured interviews. The residents of Mellunmäki have been interviewed in depth about their experiences and opinions on Mellunmäki. Only by understanding the experiences on an individual level can we say something concrete about the wider phenomenon of territorial stigma. By comparing the collected data, themes have been constructed of the phenomenon. The analysis of these themes provide findings as follows. A stigmatizing discourse is found in Mellunmäki through a distinction between Old and New Mellunmäki. New Mellunmäki is used in local discourse to denote areas of social housing within Mellunmäki. These areas are looked down upon by homeowners in Old Mellunmäki and seen as concentrations of unemployed and immigrants. The lived social realities between new and old areas are marked by a symbolic distancing from neighbors. Mellunmäki was also reported to suffer from a wider stigma of East Helsinki. The bad reputation of East Helsinki was seen as easily affiliated to a rather unknown neighborhood of Mellunmäki. Amongst others, a strong need arises from this thesis for further research on the effects of territorial stigma on neighbor relations.