1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910826341403321

Autore

Reese Ellen <1969->

Titolo

Backlash against welfare mothers [[electronic resource] ] : past and present / / Ellen Reese

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, 2005

ISBN

1-282-77184-1

9786612771842

0-520-93871-2

1-59875-520-X

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (374 p.)

Disciplina

362.5/568/0973

Soggetti

Public welfare - United States - History

Welfare recipients - Employment - United States

Aid to families with dependent children programs

Single mothers - Government policy - United States

United States Social policy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

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.