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"Disciplining the Poor" lays out the underlying logic of
contemporary poverty governance in the United States. The authors
argue that poverty governance - how social welfare policy choices
get made, how authority gets exercised, and how collective pursuits
get organized - has been transformed in the United States by two
significant developments. The rise of paternalism has promoted a
more directive and supervisory approach to managing the poor. This
has intersected with a second development: the rise of
neoliberalism as an organizing principle of governance. Neoliberals
have redesigned state operations around market principles; to
impose market discipline, core state functions - from war to
welfare - have been contracted out to private providers. The
authors seek to clarify the origins, operations, and consequences
of neoliberal paternalism as a mode of poverty governance, tracing
its impact from the federal level, to the state and county level,
down to the differences in ways frontline case workers take
disciplinary actions in individual cases. The book also addresses
the complex role race has come to play in contemporary poverty
governance.
"Disciplining the Poor" lays out the underlying logic of
contemporary poverty governance in the United States. The authors
argue that poverty governance - how social welfare policy choices
get made, how authority gets exercised, and how collective pursuits
get organized - has been transformed in the United States by two
significant developments. The rise of paternalism has promoted a
more directive and supervisory approach to managing the poor. This
has intersected with a second development: the rise of
neoliberalism as an organizing principle of governance. Neoliberals
have redesigned state operations around market principles; to
impose market discipline, core state functions - from war to
welfare - have been contracted out to private providers. The
authors seek to clarify the origins, operations, and consequences
of neoliberal paternalism as a mode of poverty governance, tracing
its impact from the federal level, to the state and county level,
down to the differences in ways frontline case workers take
disciplinary actions in individual cases. The book also addresses
the complex role race has come to play in contemporary poverty
governance.
It's hard to imagine discussing welfare policy without discussing
race, yet all too often this uncomfortable factor is avoided or
simply ignored. Sometimes the relationship between welfare and race
is treated as so self-evident as to need no further attention;
equally often, race in the context of welfare is glossed over, lest
it raise hard questions about racism in American society as a
whole. Either way, ducking the issue misrepresents the facts and
misleads the public and policy-makers alike.
Many scholars have addressed specific aspects of this subject, but
until now there has been no single integrated overview. Race and
the Politics of Welfare Reform is designed to fill this need and
provide a forum for a range of voices and perspectives that
reaffirm the key role race has played--and continues to play--in
our approach to poverty.
The essays collected here offer a systematic, step-by-step approach
to the issue. Part 1 traces the evolution of welfare from the 1930s
to the sweeping Clinton-era reforms, providing a historical context
within which to consider today's attitudes and strategies. Part 2
looks at media representation and public perception, observing, for
instance, that although blacks accounted for only about one-third
of America's poor from 1967 to 1992, they featured in nearly
two-thirds of news stories on poverty, a bias inevitably reflected
in public attitudes. Part 3 discusses public discourse, asking
questions like "Whose voices get heard and why?" and "What does
'race' mean to different constituencies?" For although
"old-fashioned" racism has been replaced by euphemism, many of the
same underlying prejudices still drive welfare debates--and indeed
are all themore pernicious for being unspoken. Part 4 examines
policy choices and implementation, showing how even the
best-intentioned reform often simply displaces institutional
inequities to the individual level--bias exercised case by case but
no less discriminatory in effect. Part 5 explores the effects of
welfare reform and the implications of transferring policy-making
to the states, where local politics and increasing use of
referendum balloting introduce new, often unpredictable concerns.
Finally, Frances Fox Piven's concluding commentary, "Why Welfare Is
Racist," offers a provocative response to the views expressed in
the pages that have gone before--intended not as a "last word" but
rather as the opening argument in an ongoing, necessary, and newly
envisioned national debate.
Sanford Schram is Visiting Professor of Social Work and Social
Research, Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social
Research.
Joe Soss teaches in the Department of Government at the Graduate
school of Public Affairs, American University, Washington, D.C.
Richard Fording is Associate Professor in the Department of
Political Science, University of Kentucky.
Large numbers of Americans claim public resources and participate
in direct relationships with government through the diversity of
welfare programs found in the United States. Most public debates
ignore the political importance of these activities, focusing
instead on the economic and moral questions raised by welfare
policy. By contrast, "Unwanted Claims" asks how different types of
welfare programs, such as social insurance and public assistance,
affect the lives of ordinary citizens. The author investigates why
citizens turn to welfare programs, how they view the welfare
system, and what they learn from experiences in welfare programs
about themselves and government. The analysis shows that the
welfare system plays a surprisingly important and sometimes
contradictory role in modern political life. Depending on their
designs, welfare programs can draw citizens into a more inclusive
and vibrant democracy or treat them in ways that reinforce their
social and political marginality.
"Unwanted Claims" is a work of political sociology that provides an
illuminating account of political life in the U.S. welfare system
that should be of interest to scholars, students, policy
practitioners, and the general public. Written in a style that
minimizes technical jargon, avoids complex statistical
presentations, and makes extensive use of clients' own descriptions
of their experiences, beliefs, and actions, it offers an accessible
and humanizing portrait of welfare participation that challenges
conventional wisdom and raises important questions about poverty,
welfare, and democracy in America.
Joe Soss is Assistant Professor of Government, The American
University.
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