Description

Book Synopsis
Trapped in a Maze provides a window into families'lived experiences in poverty by looking at their complex interactions with institutions such as welfare, hospitals, courts, housing, and schools. Families are more intertwined with institutions than ever as they struggle to maintain their eligibility for services and face the possibility that involvement with one institution could trigger other types of institutional oversight. Many poor families find themselves trapped in a multi-institutional maze, stuck in between several systems with no clear path to resolution. Tracing the complex and often unpredictable journeys of families in this maze, this book reveals how the formal rationality by which these institutions ostensibly operate undercuts what they can actually achieve. And worse, it demonstrates how involvement with multiple institutions can perpetuate the conditions of poverty that these families are fighting to escape.

Trade Review
"In this concise, excellent book, Leslie Paik demonstrates how these institutions, while intended to support poor families, instead trap them deeper in poverty." * American Journal of Sociology *

Trapped in a Maze

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    A Paperback / softback by Leslie Paik

    £22.50

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    RRP £25.00 – you save £2.50 (10%)

    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Mon 7 Sep 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher University of California Press
      Published 17 August 2021
      ISBN-13 9780520344648
      978-0520344648
      ISBN-10 0520344642
      Also in:
      Housing and homelessness Poverty and precarity Social welfare, social policy and social services

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Trapped in a Maze provides a window into families'lived experiences in poverty by looking at their complex interactions with institutions such as welfare, hospitals, courts, housing, and schools. Families are more intertwined with institutions than ever as they struggle to maintain their eligibility for services and face the possibility that involvement with one institution could trigger other types of institutional oversight. Many poor families find themselves trapped in a multi-institutional maze, stuck in between several systems with no clear path to resolution. Tracing the complex and often unpredictable journeys of families in this maze, this book reveals how the formal rationality by which these institutions ostensibly operate undercuts what they can actually achieve. And worse, it demonstrates how involvement with multiple institutions can perpetuate the conditions of poverty that these families are fighting to escape.

      Trade Review
      "In this concise, excellent book, Leslie Paik demonstrates how these institutions, while intended to support poor families, instead trap them deeper in poverty." * American Journal of Sociology *

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