Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on the fate of the federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, this comprehensive history of the thirty year war over welfare shows how stubborn allegiance to the male-headed household undermined the struggle for economic justice.
Trade Review"Essential." *
Choice *
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The War on Welfare is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the fate of AFDC from Nixon through Clinton. Chappell contributes to the conversation on welfare reform in two important ways: first, she expands the discussion to include business and conservatives and a wider variety of liberals, including both traditional women's organizations and feminists; and second, she interrogates the cultural assumptions about family, women's work, race, and the poor by drawing upon a broad array of journalistic sources. Our understanding of the end of the family wage will never be the same." * Eileen Boris, University of California, Santa Barbara *
Table of ContentsList of Acronyms
Introduction
One: Reconstructing the Black Family: The Liberal Antipoverty Coalition in the 1960s
Two: Legislating the Male-Breadwinner Family: The Family Assistance Plan
Three: Building a New Majority: Welfare and Economic Justice in the 1970s
Four: Debating the Family Wage: Welfare Reform in the Carter Administration
Five: Relinquishing Responsibility for Poor Families: Reagan's Family Wage for the Wealthy
Conclusion: Beyond the Family Wage
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
