1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910827618103321

Autore

Krinsky John

Titolo

Free labor : workfare and the contested language of neoliberalism / / John Krinsky

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, 2007

ISBN

1-281-95732-1

0-226-45367-7

9786611957322

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (356 p.)

Disciplina

362.5/84097471

Soggetti

Welfare recipients - Employment - New York (State) - New York

Welfare rights movement - New York (State) - New York

Employee rights - New York (State) - New York

Neoliberalism

New York (N.Y.) Social policy

New York (N.Y.) Politics and government 1951-

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 (p. [293]-310) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Free labor? -- The workfare contract in the workfare state -- The formation of a protest field -- In the trenches -- Mapping passages through the trenches -- Claims, cognitions, and contradictions -- The contested language of neoliberalism.

Sommario/riassunto

One of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's proudest accomplishments is his expansion of the Work Experience Program, which uses welfare recipients to do routine work once done by unionized city workers. The fact that WEP workers are denied the legal status of employees and make far less money and enjoy fewer rights than do city workers has sparked fierce opposition. For antipoverty activists, legal advocates, unions, and other critics of the program this double standard begs a troubling question: are workfare participants workers or welfare recipients? At times the fight over workfare unfolded as an argument over who had the authority to define these terms, and in Free Labor, John Krinsky focuses on changes in the language and organization of the political coalitions on either side of the debate.



Krinsky's broadly interdisciplinary analysis draws from interviews, official documents, and media reports to pursue new directions in the study of the cultural and cognitive aspects of political activism. Free Labor will instigate a lively dialogue among students of culture, labor and social movements, welfare policy, and urban political economy.