7 options
Backlash against welfare mothers : past and present / Ellen Reese.
De Gruyter University of California Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013 Available online
View online- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Reese, Ellen, 1969-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Public welfare--United States--History.
- Public welfare.
- Welfare recipients--Employment--United States.
- Welfare recipients.
- Aid to families with dependent children programs.
- Single mothers--Government policy--United States.
- Single mothers.
- United States--Social policy.
- United States.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (374 p.)
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- Berkeley : University of California Press, 2005.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- Backlash against Welfare Mothers is a forceful examination of how and why a state-level revolt against welfare, begun in the late 1940's, was transformed into a national-level assault that destroyed a critical part of the nation's safety net, with tragic consequences for American society. With a wealth of original research, Ellen Reese puts recent debates about the contemporary welfare backlash into historical perspective. She provides a closer look at these early antiwelfare campaigns, showing why they were more successful in some states than others and how opponents of welfare sometimes targeted Puerto Ricans and Chicanos as well as blacks for cutbacks. Her research reveals both the continuities and changes in American welfare opposition from the late 1940's to the present. Reese brings new evidence to light that reveals how large farmers and racist politicians, concerned about the supply of cheap labor, appealed to white voters' racial resentments and stereotypes about unwed mothers, blacks, and immigrants in the 1950's. She then examines congressional failure to replace the current welfare system with a more popular alternative in the 1960's and 1970's, which paved the way for national assaults on welfare. Taking a fresh look at recent debates on welfare reform, she explores how and why politicians competing for the white vote and right-wing think tanks promoting business interests appeased the Christian right and manufactured consent for cutbacks through a powerful, racially coded discourse. Finally, through firsthand testimonies, Reese vividly portrays the tragic consequences of current welfare policies and calls for a bold new agenda for working families.
- Contents:
- Dreams deferred, broken families, and hardship : the impacts of welfare reform
- Attacking welfare, promoting work and marriage : continuity and change in welfare opposition
- The first welfare backlash (1945/1979)
- The 1950s welfare backlash and federal complicity
- Explaining the postwar rise of welfare opposition
- The Southern welfare backlash : Georgia and Kentucky
- The Northern and Western welfare backlashes : California and New York
- Setting the stage : the failures of liberal innovation
- The contemporary welfare backlash (1980/2004)
- The rise of the Republican right and new Democrats
- Business interests, conservative think tanks, and the assault on welfare
- The contemporary welfare backlash, 1980/2004
- Rebuilding the welfare state : forging a new deal for working families.
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
- ISBN:
- 9786612771842
- 9781282771840
- 1282771841
- 9780520938717
- 0520938712
- 9781598755206
- 159875520X
- OCLC:
- 475938118
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.