The stigmatisation of Las Vegas and its inhabitants
2017
This chapter is built around the following hypothesis: Las Vegas' economic success has resulted in a paradoxical situation; that is, the stigmatization of the city and its residents. The negative reputation of Las Vegas is studied here through the lens of stigma and the process of stigmatization, interweaving that of the city and of its population.
This paper identifies the existence of what I call “tourism imaginaries” shaping the Las Vegas perceptions in the American public opinion and explaining the value judgments that dominate analyses dealing with the city. It demonstrates how these tourism imaginaries then “contaminated” the almost 2-million locals that call Las Vegas home. The stereotypes based on marketing a city where “what happens here, stays here” have direct and profound consequences on the sense of belonging, the weakness of neighborhood interactions and sense of community. By focusing on Las Vegas, this paper aims at offering another perspective on spatial and place attachment, contrasting with the dominating studies on social or racial discrimination, segregated neighborhoods, and margins of society.
Starting with a presentation of the scientific literature on stigma and stigmatization, the first part of this chapter identifies the genesis of Las Vegas stigma. I shall then discuss the process that enables the stigmatization of so-called Sin City to affect ordinary Las Vegans. Finally, this chapter draws out the implications of the stigmatization process for the identity construction of the local population, showing what it is like for Las Vegans to live with stigma and how they strategically (or tactically) learn to cope with it.
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