The Promise of Welfare Reform

Since 1996, politicians and public officials in the United States have celebrated the "success" of welfare reform legislation despite little, if any, evidence to support their claims. The Promise of Welfare Reform: Political Rhetoric and the Reality of Poverty in the Twenty-First Century presents articles from 23 community practitioners and researchers who challenge the "reform" that has turned public aid from a right to a privilege. The authors transcend conventional academic writing, offering careful and thoughtful analysis that examines the history of welfare reform, its connection to poverty, family issues, and the impact of racism on poverty and on the treatment of the poor.

About the Editors Contributors Foreword (Frances Fox Piven) Introduction PART I: THE CONTEXT OF WELFARE REFORM Chapter 1. Looking Up the Slippery Slope: Lessons from a Lifetime of Trying to Figure Out and Fight Poverty (Ann Withorn) Learning Begins at Home Political Lessons Welfare and Welfare Rights: Remembering What We Have Lost and Learned Lessons Learned A Final Personal Lesson: Why It All Still Matters Chapter 2. Neither Accidental, Nor Simply Mean-Spirited: The Context for Welfare Reform (Mimi Abramovitz) Background: The Rise of the Welfare State Dismantling the Welfare State Welfare Reform The Race Card Fighting Back Chapter 3. Welfare Reform: Forward to the Past (Alfred L. Joseph Jr.) Introduction Welfare “Reform” and Beyond History of Hostility to Assistance The Struggle Continues: Fighting Racism Is Crucial Chapter 4. Welfare Reform in Historical Perspective (Joel Blau) From Agricultural to Industrial From Competitive Capitalism to Monopoly Capitalism Chapter 5. Lessons from Vermont (Margaret K. Nelson) The Disappearance of Grassroots Resistance Modest Social Change A More Active Engagement Chapter 6. Welfare Reform and the Transformation of the U.S. Welfare State (Michael Reisch) Introduction: The Roots of Contemporary Welfare Reform American “Exceptionalism” Race and Welfare Reform Antiwelfare Ideology The Impact of Welfare Reform The U.S. Workfare Regime Welfare Reform and Economic Globalization Welfare State Transformation and the Nature of Social Work Conclusion: The Workfare Regime and Power Chapter 7. Living Economic Restructuring at the Bottom: Welfare Restructuring and Low-Wage Work (Sandra Morgen, Joan Acker, Jill Weigt, and Lisa Gonzales) What Is a Good Job?: Measuring Poverty and Good Jobs/Bad Jobs Jobs, Poverty, and Welfare Reform in Oregon Jobs and Poverty in the Era of Globalization and the “Jobless Recovery” Policy Directions in the Context of Neoliberalism and Globalization PART II: POVERTY AND WELFARE REFORM Chapter 8. Welfare Reform and the American Dream (Laura R. Peck and Sarah Allen Gershon) What Is the American Dream? How Has Welfare Reform Influenced the American Dream? Discussion and Conclusion Chapter 9. Welfare Reform: What's Poverty Got to Do With It? (Keith M. Kilty) Poverty: Out of Sight, Out of Mind When Poverty Becomes Too Visible Welfare Reform and Poverty Chapter 10. Microenterprise Development, Welfare Reform, and the Contradictions of New Privatization (Nancy C. Jurik) The Privatization of Collective Welfare Microenterprise Development Programs (MDPs) MDPs in Action: The Contradictions of New Privatization Conclusion Chapter 11. Welfare Reform and Housing Retrenchment: What Happens When Two Policies Collide? (Jessica W. Pardee) Understanding Welfare Policy Understanding Housing Policy Discussion Conclusion Chapter 12. Changing the Face of Homelessness: Welfare Reform's Impact on Homeless Families (Bart W. Miles and Patrick J. Fowler) Introduction The Discursive Frame of Welfare Reform The Goals of Welfare Reform, and Its Impact on Homeless People Change in Demographics Among Homeless People Increase in the Number of Homeless Families Impact of Welfare Reform on Homeless Families Conclusion Recommendations PART III: FAM