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Articles 1 - 21 of 21
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social Construction, Knowledge Utilization, And The Politics Of Poverty: A Case Study Of Washington State’S General Assistance Reform, Yu-Ling Chang
Social Construction, Knowledge Utilization, And The Politics Of Poverty: A Case Study Of Washington State’S General Assistance Reform, Yu-Ling Chang
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This paper addresses a gap in welfare reform literature by investigating the social constructions of poor people in state policymaking within the context of diminishing General Assistance (GA) after the Great Recession. Using Social Construction and Policy Design Theoryand thematic content analysis of Washington State’s legislative archives, I found that the negative constructions of GA recipients as deviants with undesired psychological and behavioral problems were associated with the reform direction toward a regulated, punitive model. These constructions, intersecting with the ideologies of personal responsibility and work ethic, contribute to the dismantling of the social safety net for the Washington’s poorest …
If Not Welfare, Then What?: How Single Mothers Finance College Post-Welfare Reform, Kristin Wilson
If Not Welfare, Then What?: How Single Mothers Finance College Post-Welfare Reform, Kristin Wilson
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
The article follows previous work on TANF and AFDC by asking if not welfare, then what social programs and financial aid programs are low-income women using to support their college attendance, and what is the impact of these programs on the college-going decisions of low-income women? The study is based on case studies of 10 low-income women attending a community college. Results indicated that EITC, food stamps, and subsidized housing are stable sources of funding. However, each of these programs requires diferent application processes and compliance regulations. Only the Pell Grant was viewed as a dependable source of funding for …
The Role Of The Neighborhood In Making Welfare Reform Possible, David I. Siegel
The Role Of The Neighborhood In Making Welfare Reform Possible, David I. Siegel
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This article will analyze the role of the neighborhood in making welfare reform possible. It will consider the neighborhood and its environment as a context for welfare reform, the influence of neighborhood conditions and effects, recent neighborhood theory building, the neighborhood as a source of relevant values, and finally neighborhood programs that contribute to welfare reform.
Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Why Applicants Leave The Extended Welfare Application Process, Marci Ybarra
Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Why Applicants Leave The Extended Welfare Application Process, Marci Ybarra
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Since welfare reform of 1996, the use of extended application periods as a condition of welfare participation has become increasingly popular. Extended application periods include mandatory work activities and caseworker meetings for a period of time as a condition of and prerequisite to eligibility for welfare services. While much scholarly work has focused on welfare participants, we know comparatively less about those who apply for services but ultimately do not participate or receive benefits. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a random sample of twenty recent welfare applicants in the state of Wisconsin who did not complete the extended welfare application …
Bringing The Organization Back In: The Role Of Bureaucratic Churning In Early Tanf Caseload Declines In Illinois, Chad Broughton
Bringing The Organization Back In: The Role Of Bureaucratic Churning In Early Tanf Caseload Declines In Illinois, Chad Broughton
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Welfare reform legislation in the late 1990s lead to rapid declines in state welfare caseloads. In contrast to prevailing accounts that emphasize rapid job creation and those that pin caseload declines on successful work incentives and behavioral sanctions, this article argues that organizational rationing mechanisms explain a large portion of the sharp initial declines in Illinois. The article first highlights how street-level bureaucratic practices oriented toward caseload reduction arose in TANF implementing bodies from a reordered and narrow set of organizational incentives that had little to do with the symbolic goals of welfare reform. Based on an analysis of state-level …
The Limits Of Paternalism: A Case Study Of Welfare Reform In Wisconsin, Thomas S. Moore, Swarnjit S. Arora
The Limits Of Paternalism: A Case Study Of Welfare Reform In Wisconsin, Thomas S. Moore, Swarnjit S. Arora
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This paper uses a pooled sample constructed from the Food Stamp Quality Control data for the fiscal years 1993 to 2006 to assess the effects of welfare reform upon the employment, earnings, income, and poverty trends among poor, single-mother families, both in Wisconsin and nationwide. It finds that the employment and earnings gains of the Wisconsin families exceed those of comparable families nationwide. However, there has been no significant change in the average income of the Wisconsin families, and the number of extremely poor families has increased more rapidly in Wisconsin than in the country as a whole. These findings …
The Untold Story Of Welfare Fraud, Richelle S. Swan, Linda L. Shaw, Sharon Cullity, Joni Halpern, Juliana Humphrey, Wendy M. Limbert, Mary Roche
The Untold Story Of Welfare Fraud, Richelle S. Swan, Linda L. Shaw, Sharon Cullity, Joni Halpern, Juliana Humphrey, Wendy M. Limbert, Mary Roche
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
The experiences of women who have been charged with welfare fraud in the years following the passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act cast a shadow over the claim that welfare reform has been an unequivocal success. This article addresses this under-explored issue by considering the face of welfare fraud in San Diego, California after the change to federal welfare law. After a brief discussion of the socio-historical context of welfare fraud prosecution and a summary of the scholarly findings related to welfare fraud post-PRWORA, the aiticle details a new "poverty knowledge" about welfare fraud drawn …
Welfare And Family Economic Security: Toward A Place-Based Poverty Knowledge, Deborah A. Harris, Domenico Parisi
Welfare And Family Economic Security: Toward A Place-Based Poverty Knowledge, Deborah A. Harris, Domenico Parisi
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 is viewed by many as a resounding success. Its success, however, is predicated primarily on caseload reduction rather than improvement of family well-being. In addition, provisions in the act ignore the importance of place in shaping one's life chances. Using Alice O'Connor's influential book, Poverty Knowledge, as a framework, we discuss findings from a qualitative study that examines how low-income families plan for a life without welfare in places with different opportunities and structural constraints. We find that returns to TANF are common among welfare leavers and that place …
Dropped From The Rolls: Mexican Immigrants, Race, And Rights In The Era Of Welfare Reform, Alejandra Marchevsky, Jeanne Theoharis
Dropped From The Rolls: Mexican Immigrants, Race, And Rights In The Era Of Welfare Reform, Alejandra Marchevsky, Jeanne Theoharis
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Welfare reform transferred considerable discretion over eligibility standards and benefits to individual caseworkers, contributing to a highly diffuse, yet system-wide, practice of discrimination against nonwhite and foreign-born families within the new TANF program. Based on a two-year ethnographic study of welfare reform's impact on Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles County, this article documents a pattern of heightened anti-immigrant sentiment and disentitlement within L.A. County's welfare system following the passage of PRWORA. The vast majority of eligible immigrant families in our study lost some or all of their cash and food stamp benefits, and were systematically denied access to the work …
Tracking The Transition From Welfare To Work, Cynthia Needles Fletcher, Mary Winter, An-Ti Shih
Tracking The Transition From Welfare To Work, Cynthia Needles Fletcher, Mary Winter, An-Ti Shih
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
One of the primary goals of the 1996 federal welfare reform legislation was to reduce dependency on cash transfers and to promote self-sufficiency through employment in the paid labor force. This paper draws upon a qualitative study of 18 Iowa welfare recipients and tracks changes that occur over a three-year, post-reform period. Thick descriptions highlight the internal family dynamics of the choices made over time. The purposes of the study are twofold:first, to document changes in family composition, employment, housing, and program participation, and second, to report how recipients experience such changes. Findings reveal that the 11 families who left …
Lost In Appalachia: The Unexpected Impact Of Welfare Reform On Older Women In Rural Communities, Debra A. Henderson, Ann R. Tickamyer
Lost In Appalachia: The Unexpected Impact Of Welfare Reform On Older Women In Rural Communities, Debra A. Henderson, Ann R. Tickamyer
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
A primary goal of welfare reform was to overcome welfare dependency through the promotion of work and the setting of lifetime limits. While atf irst blush thisg oal may have appearedr easonablef or young recipients, it does not address the needs of older recipients, particularly women. Based on in-depth interviews with welfare recipients in four impoverished rural Appalachian counties over a four year time span (1999-2001; 2004), this paper evaluates the experiences of older women as they confront the changes brought on by welfare reform legislation. Findings suggest that impoverished older women in isolated rural communities experience multiple crises as …
"It's All One Big Circle": Welfare Discourse And The Everyday Lives Of Urban Adolescents, Staci T. Lowe
"It's All One Big Circle": Welfare Discourse And The Everyday Lives Of Urban Adolescents, Staci T. Lowe
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Welfare reform succeeded, in part, because of discourse that characterized the poverty problem as one of long-term dependency and personal irresponsibility. Adolescent pregnancy was targeted as both cause and manifestation of a welfare crisis. This study examined how welfare reform was perceived and experienced by lowincome, urban adolescents. Findings from interviews revealed that adolescents agreed with many of the basic tenets of welfare reform, largely because they had appropriated much of the discourse prevalent in wider society. However, their complex life stories contained a powerful subtext concerning structural determinants of poverty that ran counter to prevailing notions of "personal responsibility."
The Illusion Of Change, The Politics Of Illusion: Evolution Of The Family Support Act Of 1988, Luisa S. Deprez
The Illusion Of Change, The Politics Of Illusion: Evolution Of The Family Support Act Of 1988, Luisa S. Deprez
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
The enactment of the Family Support Act was the outcome of a six-year legislative and administrative review of, and debate about, welfare policy and programs. Heralded as the opportunity of the century, it did little, however, to alter existing policy. This article examines the evolution of the Family Support Act within the United States Congress, spotlighting two important time periods leading up to its enactment: 1981 to 1985 and 1986 to 1988. Original documentsfroin the files of the late Senator Moynihan, legislative sponsor of the Family Support Act, as well as a comprehensive investigation of Congressional records of hearings and …
Globalization, Welfare Reform And The Social Economy: Developing An Alternative Approach To Analyzing Social Welfare Systems In The Post-Industrial Era, Vanna Gonzales
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Our understanding of the relationship between globalization and contemporary social welfare systems is heavily influenced by three conventional approaches to studying welfare reform: the political economy, moral economy, and mixed economy approaches. In addition to analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each of these approaches, a central aim of this article is to introduce the social economy approach as an emergent alternative. Drawing from a growing body of work on institutional innovation within the European third sector, I argue that the social economy approach makes a valuable contribution to understanding the role of welfare networks in reconfiguring globalizations' impact on …
Job Satisfaction Among Tanf Leavers, Jeff Scott
Job Satisfaction Among Tanf Leavers, Jeff Scott
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Using means tests, ANOVA, contingency methods and polytomous logistic regression techniques, I analyze job satisfaction survey data provided by former welfare recipients in Illinois. Mean job satisfaction in the sample is high. Wages, work hours, professional status, having employer sponsored health care and being in good health have sign ficant positive effects on job satisfaction. Contrary to popular assumptions regarding welfare dependency, time on welfare positively affects post- TANF job satisfaction. I discuss implications of these findings in the context of policy debates regarding TANF reauthorization.
The Earned Income Tax Credit: A Study Of Eligible Participants Vs. Non-Participants, Richard K. Caputo
The Earned Income Tax Credit: A Study Of Eligible Participants Vs. Non-Participants, Richard K. Caputo
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study (N = 1,504) showed that about half the EITC eligible tax filers in 2001 did not file EITC tax returns and that differences between EITC tax filers and non-EITC tax filers varied by birth place, Food Stamp program participation, marital status, race, residence, sex, socioeconomic history, and worker classification. Findings suggested that the EITC is well targeted in the sense that economically marginalized groups are likely to participate and that increased outreach efforts are also needed to ensure greater participation among tax filers eligible for the EITC but who …
Lone Mothers And Welfare-To-Work Policies In Japan And The United States: Towards An Alternative Perspective, Aya Ezawa, Chisa Fujiwara
Lone Mothers And Welfare-To-Work Policies In Japan And The United States: Towards An Alternative Perspective, Aya Ezawa, Chisa Fujiwara
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This paper compares recent efforts to reduce lone mothers' reliance on cash assistance and support their increased participation in the workforce and economic independence in Japan and the United States. Similar to reforms introduced in the U.S. in 1996, lone mother policies in Japan have been subject to a series of cuts leading to the introduction of time limits and work-related programs in 2002. In this paper, we examine the character of recent welfare reforms in both countries and their implications for lone mothers' welfare and economic independence. Based on Japan's experience and recent lessons from the U.S., we show …
Reforming Welfare Reform Postsecondary Education Policy: Two State Case Studies In Political Culture, Organizing, And Advocacy, Charles Price
Reforming Welfare Reform Postsecondary Education Policy: Two State Case Studies In Political Culture, Organizing, And Advocacy, Charles Price
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Welfare reform had the unforeseen effect of causing large numbers of public assistance recipients to drop out of college, discouraging their pursuit and acquisition of postsecondary education (PSE) credentials. There is a growing body of research that shows the value of postsecondary education in getting public assistance recipients onto a path toward occupational and social mobility. The restrictions of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families PSE policy, coupled with the recognition that college participation should be an option for qualified welfare recipients, influenced the emergence of many successful state and county-level movements focused on reforming welfare reform PSE policy. Their work …
Welfare Recipients Attending College: The Interplay Of Oppression And Resistance, Karen Christopher
Welfare Recipients Attending College: The Interplay Of Oppression And Resistance, Karen Christopher
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This qualitative study uses Patricia Hill Collins' "both/and" conceptual framework to explore experiences of both oppression and resistance among welfare recipients attending college. It examines how children, social networks, integration into campus life, and interactions with caseworkers affect welfare recipients' college attendance and college persistence. As is well established in the sociological literature, having children complicates college attendance and persistence. But this research shows that children also provide the predominant incentive for poor mothers to attain higher education. Moreover, this study reveals complexities in welfare recipients' experiences with their social networks, work-study jobs, and caseworkers that are often overlooked by …
Economic Well-Being Of Single Mothers: Work First Or Postsecondary Education?, Min Zhan, Shanta Pandey
Economic Well-Being Of Single Mothers: Work First Or Postsecondary Education?, Min Zhan, Shanta Pandey
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This article investigates the relationship between single mothers' education and their economic well-being. Through the analysis of the 1993 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data, we examine the effect of education on a sample of White and African American single mothers. The results indicate that past work experience is a weak predictor of current economic well-being. Having education, particularly postsecondary education, on the other hand, significantly improves their economic status. The results challenge the "work-first" approach to alleviating poverty and provide more support for designing policies to develop human capital.
Making Tanf Work: Organizational Restructuring, Staff Buy-In, And Performance Monitoring In Local Implementation, Frank Ridzi
Making Tanf Work: Organizational Restructuring, Staff Buy-In, And Performance Monitoring In Local Implementation, Frank Ridzi
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
While research suggests that staff resistance to change and intentional subversion have hampered prior welfare reform efforts, this does not appear to be the case for the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). This paper draws on data from a study of East County, New York to explicate the mechanisms that have enabled the unprecedented transformation in local implementation practice in this case. Interviews, participant observation, and textual analysis of legislative and program documents identify new program creation, staff buy-in, and the environment created by stern performance measures as instrumental in bringing about the PRWORA's successful implementation …