Working the system : clients' use and experience of social welfare institutions in Philadelphia, 1940 to the present / Julie D. Goldsmith.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Microformat

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Goldsmith, Julie D.

Contributor:

Edin, Kathryn, 1962- advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Sociology.

Sociology--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Sociology.

Sociology--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

ix, 284 pages ; 29 cm

Production:

1998.

Summary:

My dissertation investigates clients' use of social welfare institutions in Philadelphia from 1940 to the present. I compare the experiences of working class Jews, Italians, and African Americans who have lived and worked in South Philadelphia since 1940. The findings are based on a multi-method approach that combines data from interviews as well as a variety of historical sources, including the Philadelphia Social Service Exchange (a previously unanalyzed data source that traces clients' path through the network of institutions in Philadelphia between 1911 and 1970), public opinion polls, census data, studies of racial and ethnic communities, and institutional histories. Both structural and cultural factors are found to be essential to understanding patterns of institutional use and marked differences in patterns of institutional use emerge between racial and ethnic groups. The structure of communal institutions as well as public and private social welfare programs are found to play substantial roles in where people go for help during times of financial crisis. At the time, some racial and ethnic identity, gender ideology and the social construction of stigma are all found to be important in determining how people think about and use social welfare institutions. This research shows that while members of each racial or ethnic group have highly specific justifications for their feelings about welfare, they share a common enmity for it that transcends race and ethnicity, pointing to the relational nature of identity and feelings of entitlement. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the implications of its findings on contemporary welfare reform.

Notes:

Adviser: Kathryn Edin.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Sociology) -- University of Pennsylvania, 1998.

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 98-40194.

OCLC:

187472902