Stretched Thin

Poor Families, Welfare Work, and Welfare Reform

Author: Sandra Morgen
Secondary Author: Joan Acker
ISBN: 9780801475108

When the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act became law in 1996, the architects of welfare reform celebrated what they called the new "consensus" on welfare: that cash assistance should be temporary and contingent on recipients' seeking and finding employment. However, assessments about the assumptions and consequences of this radical change to the nation's social safety net were actually far more varied and disputed than the label "consensus" suggests. By examining the varied realities and accountings of welfare restructuring, Stretched Thin looks back at a critical moment of policy change and suggests how welfare policy in the United States can be changed to better address the needs of poor families and the nation. Using ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews with poor families and welfare workers, survey data tracking more than 750 families over two years, and documentary evidence, Sandra Morgen, Joan Acker, and Jill Weigt question the validity of

Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publish Date: 2013-09-30

Subjects: Social Science / Poverty & Homelessness, Political Science / Public Policy / Social Services & Welfare, Social Science / Sociology / Marriage & Family, Social Science / Social Work, History / United States / State & Local / Pacific Northwest (OR, WA)

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Cross-Cultural Center (Location: Urban Studies & Class (URBN))