Joel F. Handler, Yeheskel Hasenfeld, Handler Joel F.

Blame Welfre Ignre Povty and Ineqty

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This book challenges the assumption of the decline of welfare.

With the passage of the 1996 welfare reform, not only welfare, but poverty and inequality have disappeared from the political discourse. The decline in the welfare rolls has been hailed as a success. This book challenges that assumption. It argues that while many single mothers left welfare, they have joined the working poor, and fail to make a decent living. The book examines the persistent demonization of poor single-mother families; the impact of the low-wage market on perpetuating poverty and inequality; and the role of the welfare bureaucracy in defining deserving and undeserving poor. It argues that the emphasis on family values - marriage promotion, sex education and abstinence - is misguided and diverts attention from the economic hardships low-income families face. The book proposes an alternative approach to reducing poverty and inequality that centers on a children's allowance as basic income support coupled with jobs and universal child care.

Review quote:
"This book challenges the conventional wisdom that welfare reform "worked." Handler and Hasenfeld, well-known experts in this field, contest that view, bringing to bear a wealth of data on poverty, inequality, and welfare policy. They conclude that welfare reform was built around "myths" regarding the individual deviance of the poor. Instead, they argue that structural conditions in society and the economy are the underlying sources of poverty and inequality and must be addressed with new policy solutions. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with these crucial issues."

Evelyn Z. Brodkin, Associate Professor, School of Social Service Administration, The University of Chicago

"This is an enormously valuable work, bringing together historical perspective, extensive knowledge and a wide range of research findings in support of a forceful argument that our nation needs to move beyond debates about welfare reform and make a major commitment to addressing poverty and inequality."

Mark Greenberg, Executive Director, Task Force on Poverty, Center for American Progress

"There is a broad consensus across most of the political spectrum that the 1996 welfare reform successfully “ended welfare as we knew it”–the welfare rolls were cut in half, more single mothers entered the labor force, and child poverty fell modestly. Handler and Hasenfeld challenge this conventional wisdom and emphasize instead that welfare reform is no substitute for antipoverty policies. They propose that government provide a basic income for families with children, reform the low-wage labor market, improve child care and expand community-based services so that we can end poverty as we still know it. Anyone interested in the future of social welfare policy should read this book."

Sheldon Danziger, H. J. Meyer Distinguished University Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan

Table of contents:
1. Introduction; 2. The state of poverty: TANF recipients; 3. The response to poverty and inequality: the welfare state; 4. Demonizing the single-mother family: the path to welfare reform; 5. The welfare bureaucracy; 6. Work and the low-wage labor market: mothers and children; 7. Welfare reform and moral entrepreneurship: promoting marriage and responsible parenthood, and preventing teenage pregnancy; 8. Addressing poverty and inequality.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 416
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. März 2010
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 240mm x 161mm x 27mm
• Gewicht: 789g
• ISBN-13: 9780521870351
• ISBN-10: 0521870356
• Artikelnr.: 21042210

Autorenporträt

Joel F. Handler has been a Professor of Law, specializing in social welfare law and policy, poverty, welfare bureaucracies, and comparative welfare states. He has published several books and articles, has won the American Political Science Association prize for the best book in US National Policy (1997) and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has lectured in Europe, Israel, South America, and Asia.

Inhaltsangabe

1. Introduction
2. The state of poverty: TANF recipients
3. The response to poverty and inequality: the welfare state
4. Demonizing the single-mother family: the path to welfare reform
5. The welfare bureaucracy
6. Work and the low-wage labor market: mothers and children
7. Welfare reform and moral entrepreneurship: promoting marriage and responsible parenthood, and preventing teenage pregnancy
8. Addressing poverty and inequality.