Reforming Welfare, Redefining Poverty

Reforming Welfare, Redefining Poverty PDF Author: Randy Albelda
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
"The overall purpose of this volume is to present welfare reform in the context of a bigger set of political, economic, and policy shifts and to examine how it forces us to reconceptualize poverty and antipoverty policies as well as to rethink the possibilities and limits of the U.S. welfare state. Since those most affected by welfare are single mothers, communities of color, and poor families, we also consider welfare changes in light of how they both mask and reveal gender, race, and class relations in the United States. In short, we think that the arguments here make the case for ending welfare reform as we know it. They provide part of a vision for a more dependable and responsive state, assuming that that a democratic social movement must also be part of ending the economic and political bases for poverty." - FROM THE PREFACE by Randy Albelda and Ann Withhorn There has always been a storm of controversy regarding welfare in America, and for that matter, on a global level. Who should qualify, under what guidelines, and how and in what form should compensation be delivered? This issue of The Annals takes a long, hard, and sometimes hypercritical look at the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) and the present state of welfare in America. While not raising the banner for a return to the past, there is presented the postulation that the present welfare situation is inefficiently attending to people in need, particularly along gender and racial lines. Under an ever widening gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States, and the world at large, many world governments are bent to define as an integral remedy, a globalized economy. That concept is taken at issue as seriously flawed and the authors attempt to dissect the more salient problems, in that poverty and any welfare system that supports it, or the lack thereof, is far more complex than can be solved merely by higher gross national product. The many facets of poverty and its effect on class relationships, race, gender, families, single mothers, children and individual rights, are explored and examined to capture an expanding range of critical issues and provide scholarly and crucial commentary to the quality of human existence as well as the political and global necessities that demand a second opinion as to whether we as a country, and the world at large, are "doing the right thing" for people in crisis.

Reforming Welfare, Redefining Poverty

Reforming Welfare, Redefining Poverty PDF Author: Randy Albelda
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book

Book Description
"The overall purpose of this volume is to present welfare reform in the context of a bigger set of political, economic, and policy shifts and to examine how it forces us to reconceptualize poverty and antipoverty policies as well as to rethink the possibilities and limits of the U.S. welfare state. Since those most affected by welfare are single mothers, communities of color, and poor families, we also consider welfare changes in light of how they both mask and reveal gender, race, and class relations in the United States. In short, we think that the arguments here make the case for ending welfare reform as we know it. They provide part of a vision for a more dependable and responsive state, assuming that that a democratic social movement must also be part of ending the economic and political bases for poverty." - FROM THE PREFACE by Randy Albelda and Ann Withhorn There has always been a storm of controversy regarding welfare in America, and for that matter, on a global level. Who should qualify, under what guidelines, and how and in what form should compensation be delivered? This issue of The Annals takes a long, hard, and sometimes hypercritical look at the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) and the present state of welfare in America. While not raising the banner for a return to the past, there is presented the postulation that the present welfare situation is inefficiently attending to people in need, particularly along gender and racial lines. Under an ever widening gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States, and the world at large, many world governments are bent to define as an integral remedy, a globalized economy. That concept is taken at issue as seriously flawed and the authors attempt to dissect the more salient problems, in that poverty and any welfare system that supports it, or the lack thereof, is far more complex than can be solved merely by higher gross national product. The many facets of poverty and its effect on class relationships, race, gender, families, single mothers, children and individual rights, are explored and examined to capture an expanding range of critical issues and provide scholarly and crucial commentary to the quality of human existence as well as the political and global necessities that demand a second opinion as to whether we as a country, and the world at large, are "doing the right thing" for people in crisis.

Families, Poverty, and Welfare Reform

Families, Poverty, and Welfare Reform PDF Author: Lawrence B. Joseph
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780962675553
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
This volume combines essays by public policy scholars with comments by social project directors who speak from their experiences in the field. Essays include critical assessments of policies to reduce dependency on welfare and a discussion of the effects of poverty on women and children, as well as a look at welfare reform in Illinois.

American Poverty in a New Era of Reform

American Poverty in a New Era of Reform PDF Author: Harrell R. Rodgers
Publisher: M.E. Sharpe
ISBN: 9780765615954
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
This edition provides a comprehensive examination of the extent, causes, effects, and costs of American poverty nearly ten years after the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996.

Poor No More

Poor No More PDF Author: Peter Cove
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351498002
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
In the 1960s, America set out to end poverty. Policy-makers put forth an unprecedented package of legislation, funding poverty programs and empowering the poor through ineffectual employment-related education and training. However, these handouts produced little change, and efforts to provide education and job-training proved inconsequential, boasting only a 2.8 percent decrease in the poverty rate since 1965. Decades after the War on Poverty began, many of its programs failed. Only one thing really worked to help end poverty-and that was work itself, the centerpiece of welfare reform in 1996. Poor No More is a plan to restructure poverty programs, prioritizing jobs above all else. Traditionally, job placement programs stemmed from non-profit organizations or government agencies. However, America Works, the first for-profit job placement venture founded by Peter Cove, has the highest employee retention rate in the greater New York City area, even above these traditional agencies. When the federal government embraced the work-first ideal, inspired by the success of America Works, welfare rolls plummeted from 12.6 million to 4.7 million nationally within one decade. Poor No More is a paradigm-shifting work that guides the reader through the evolution of America's War on Poverty and urges policy-makers to eliminate training and education programs that waste time and money and to adopt a work-first model, while providing job-seekers with the tools and life lessons essential to finding and maintaining employment.

Reforming Welfare

Reforming Welfare PDF Author: Richard M. Coughlin
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
This collection of 12 essays addresses the issue of welfare reform, providing an overview of welfare reform proposals, the politics and history of reform, and the evidence on the efficacy of past policies. Cloth edition (unseen), $24.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Out of the Poverty Trap

Out of the Poverty Trap PDF Author: Stuart M. Butler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description


Changing Poverty, Changing Policies

Changing Poverty, Changing Policies PDF Author: Maria Cancian
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610445988
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
Poverty declined significantly in the decade after Lyndon Johnson's 1964 declaration of "War on Poverty." Dramatically increased federal funding for education and training programs, social security benefits, other income support programs, and a growing economy reduced poverty and raised expectations that income poverty could be eliminated within a generation. Yet the official poverty rate has never fallen below its 1973 level and remains higher than the rates in many other advanced economies. In this book, editors Maria Cancian and Sheldon Danziger and leading poverty researchers assess why the War on Poverty was not won and analyze the most promising strategies to reduce poverty in the twenty-first century economy. Changing Poverty, Changing Policies documents how economic, social, demographic, and public policy changes since the early 1970s have altered who is poor and where antipoverty initiatives have kept pace or fallen behind. Part I shows that little progress has been made in reducing poverty, except among the elderly, in the last three decades. The chapters examine how changing labor market opportunities for less-educated workers have increased their risk of poverty (Rebecca Blank), and how family structure changes (Maria Cancian and Deborah Reed) and immigration have affected poverty (Steven Raphael and Eugene Smolensky). Part II assesses the ways childhood poverty influences adult outcomes. Markus Jäntti finds that poor American children are more likely to be poor adults than are children in many other industrialized countries. Part III focuses on current antipoverty policies and possible alternatives. Jane Waldfogel demonstrates that policies in other countries—such as sick leave, subsidized child care, and schedule flexibility—help low-wage parents better balance work and family responsibilities. Part IV considers how rethinking and redefining poverty might take antipoverty policies in new directions. Mary Jo Bane assesses the politics of poverty since the 1996 welfare reform act. Robert Haveman argues that income-based poverty measures should be expanded, as they have been in Europe, to include social exclusion and multiple dimensions of material hardships. Changing Poverty, Changing Policies shows that thoughtful policy reforms can reduce poverty and promote opportunities for poor workers and their families. The authors' focus on pragmatic measures that have real possibilities of being implemented in the United States not only provides vital knowledge about what works but real hope for change.

The Promise of Welfare Reform

The Promise of Welfare Reform PDF Author: Elizabeth A. Segal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0789029219
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Presents articles from 23 community practitioners and researchers who challenge the "reform" that has turned public aid from a right to a privilege.

The Poverty of Welfare Reform

The Poverty of Welfare Reform PDF Author: Joel F. Handler
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300064810
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Once again, America is getting tough on welfare. Democrats and Republicans at both the national and state levels seem to have agreed that paying public funds to the poor--particularly to single mothers and their children--perpetuates dependency and undermines self-sufficiency and the work ethic. In this book Joel Handler, a national expert on welfare, points out the fallacies in the current proposals for welfare reform, arguing that they merely recycle old remedies that have not worked. He analyzes the prejudice that has historically existed against "the undeserving poor" and shows that the stereotype of the inner-city woman of color who has children in order to stay on welfare is untrue. Most welfare mothers are in the labor market, says Handler; however, the work that is available to them is most often low-wage, part-time employment with no benefits. Efforts to move large numbers of welfare recipients to full-time employment are not likely to be successful, especially since most of the welfare programs for single mothers are at the state and local levels, and these governments are reluctant to spend the extra money needed to institute work or other reform programs. Handler suggests that national reform efforts should focus less on welfare and blaming the victim and more on increasing labor markets and reducing poverty through legislation that promotes, for example, the Earned Income Tax Credit and universal health care benefits. Welfare reform, by itself, does nothing to improve the job market, and unless there are more jobs paying more income, we will have done nothing to lessen poverty or reduce welfare.

The Moral Construction of Poverty

The Moral Construction of Poverty PDF Author: Joel F. Handler
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
When allocating resources, should a distinction be made between the deserving and undeserving poor? Do gender, class or race play a role in designing welfare programmes? Why are welfare policies so charged with moral and political controversy? Discussing these and other significant issues, this volume provides an in-depth look at the historical and philosophical roots of the American welfare system, the strategies used to cope with their welfare crisis and current reform efforts.