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- Title
CAPITALISM AND WELFARE REFORM: WHO REALLY BENEFITS FROM WELFARE-TO-WORK POLICIES?
- Authors
Monnat, Shannon M.; Bunyan, Laura A.
- Abstract
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 promoted employment as one of the key strategies for lifting families out of poverty and off welfare. The welfare to work policies implemented under the new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program require that most TANF recipients be employed in order to receive benefits. Throughout the past few years sociologists have been increasingly questioning whether all individuals on welfare benefit equally from welfare to work policies. Accordingly, this paper presents a socio-demographic portrait of employed mothers on welfare. Specifically, we use state-level data from the Administration of Children and Families (ACF) to address the following questions: 1) What role does race play in employment and earnings for mothers who receive welfare?; 2) In what ways does marital status intersect with race to facilitate or restrict employment and earnings?; and 3) Who are the biggest beneficiaries of policies that require individuals on welfare to work? Critical race and intersectional theories are applied to help explain the findings. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the findings and directions for future research.
- Subjects
UNITED States; CAPITALISM; PUBLIC welfare; RACE; EMPLOYMENT; POOR families; SERVICES for the poor
- Publication
Race, Gender & Class, 2008, Vol 15, Issue 1/2, p115
- ISSN
1082-8354
- Publication type
Article