Teaching and Learning Guide for: Assessing Welfare Reform, Over a Decade Later
Authors: Kissane Rebecca Joyce 
Published: April 2008

Introduction

Over the last decade, we have witnessed a number of changes to our welfare state. With the 1996 bi‐partisan‐supported welfare reform legislation (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act; PRWORA), the federal government devolved much of the responsibility for public assistance to the states, instituted time‐limited assistance, and aimed to curb non‐marital childbirths, encourage marriage, and push welfare recipients to become economically self‐sufficient. After PRWORA, a slew of scholars from multiple academic disciplines sought to understand the implementation and implications of the changes to the welfare system for poor families as well as those agencies, staff, and programs that serve them. In this article, Kissane and Krebs synthesize some major findings from this research on welfare reform and its effects. Courses using such a review might situate the exploration of welfare reform within a larger investigation of America's welfare state, poverty, and/or social policy.

Author recommends

Brown, Michael K. 1999. Race, Money and the American Welfare State. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Through a detailed examination of social policy from the New Deal through the Reagan administration, Brown explores,‘how both race and social class bear on the political development of the American welfare state’ (p. xiv). As the title of the books suggests, Brown pays particular attention to taxes, fiscal capacity and spending in his account.

DeParle, Jason. 2004. American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare. New York: Penguin Press.

DeParle, a New York Times journalist, moves effortlessly between exploring developments in American welfare policy and chronicling the lives of three poor women. He vividly depicts the complexity of the women's lives in the wake of the changes to the welfare system, while also providing fascinating details on the origins and implementation of welfare reform.

Edin, Kathryn and Laura Lein. 1997. Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low‐Wage Work. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

This book presents findings from Edin and Lein's comprehensive, multi‐city qualitative study on the monthly budgets of low‐wage workers and welfare‐reliant women, as well as their strategies for making ends meet. They find that both groups rely on their networks for in‐kind and cash assistance, aid from non‐profit organizations, and earnings from informal work to survive. Edin and Lein also investigate the relative costs and benefits (both tangible and intangible) of work versus welfare.

Esping‐Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

An essential book if one is interested in the development of welfare states across advanced Western societies. Esping‐Andersen delineates three typologies of welfare state regimes (conservative, liberal, and social) and explores the factors that establish the differences in welfare states.

Gilens, Martin. 1999. Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

In this well‐researched book, Gilens explores public opinion on anti‐poverty policies and the media's role in shaping how the public thinks about welfare. His chapters on the media's representations of poverty and welfare are particularly enlightening.

Gordon, Linda. 1994. Pitied But Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

In this book, Gordon, a social historian, argues that reformers working in the women's movement during the Progressive Era had a significant effect on the development of the welfare state; however, they also helped to cement racial and gender stratification within it and ultimately limit its full development.

Hays, Sharon. 2003. Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

In Flat Broke with Children, Hays, a sociologist, does a wonderful job exploring the cultural values behind welfare reform, detailing the contradictory nature of its requirements and procedures, and situating welfare recipients and their behavior within the larger American cultural context. Through her analysis of data collected from years of fieldwork in welfare offices in two states, Hays also investigates how poor women and welfare staff experience and think about welfare reform.

Iceland, John. 2006. Poverty in America: A Handbook. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

This book is an excellent overview of poverty in America. Iceland clearly details views on poverty, how we measure poverty, the characteristics of the poverty population, and the causes of poverty.

Katz, Michael B. 2001. The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

In this expansive work, Katz, a social historian, details recent developments across various areas of the American welfare state (although he focuses on anti‐poverty policies), while situating these developments within a larger historical context. In particular, he shows how public social policy in recent decades has shifted around three ‘great objectives’: (i) to end dependence; (ii) to devolve authority; and (iii) to apply market models to social policy.

Piven, Frances F. and Richard A. Cloward. 1993. Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare (updated edition). New York, NY: Vintage Books.

In this classic, Piven and Cloward advance their theory that ‘expansive relief policies are designed to mute civil disorder, and restrictive ones to reinforce work norms’ (p. xv). Their book explores a large span of history – from early poor relief in France and England to developments under the Bush administration.

Online materials

Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)

http://www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/povertyusa/

This website includes some facts about poverty, as well as ideas for educators on ways to generate discussion on poverty. The ‘getting involved’ section of the website is particularly useful, providing, among other things, a poverty quiz, interactive maps, information on CCHD funded programs, a ‘poverty tour’ that addresses issues with the federal poverty line, and ways to get involved.

Global Rich List

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

This website allows you to situate your annual income in the context of the world's population. It is a great little teaching tool to introduce concepts of relative poverty, income inequality, and global poverty to students.

Green Book from House Ways and Means Committee
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wmprints/green/index.html

The Green Book is an excellent resource for descriptions and historical data on many U.S. social welfare programs, such as the Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Foster Care, Medicaid, and Food Stamp programs.

MDRC

http://www.mdrc.org/

Known best, perhaps, for its evaluations of welfare policies and programs that incorporate random assignment, MDRC provides detailed information on programs and policies that affect the poor. Among other things, the website includes publications, working papers, policy briefs, and videos detailing research findings.

The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP)

http://www.nccp.org/

The NCCP at Columbia University provides statistical information and fact sheets on poverty and policy issues, often with a focus on the links between family economic security and child development. Individuals might find particularly useful the ‘State Profiles’ section of the website, which allows one to view demographic information (often in clear charts and graphs), issue areas, and policies for the state of one's choosing.

U.S. Census Bureau

http://www.census.gov/

The census website provides an extensive array of data on the U.S. population and economy. Besides navigating from the above link, data and reports on poverty can also be found directly at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.html.

The World Bank

http://www.worldbank.org/

The World Bank's website provides resources valuable to exploring worldwide poverty and situating the U.S. globally. In particular, the PovertyNet area (http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/0,,menuPK:336998~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:336992,00.html) of the website presents detailed information and data on poverty and related issues that researchers, educators, and practitioners may find useful.

Additional online resources

Scores of additional organizations and centers (too many to list) conduct and disseminate research on issues related to the economy, welfare, public policy, and poverty. What follows is a list of some other key organizations and centers, alongside links to their websites:

Brookings Institute (http://www.brookings.edu)

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (http://www.cbpp.org/)

Center for Law and Social Policy (http://www.clasp.org/)

Center for Research on Child Wellbeing (CRCW) (http://crcw.princeton.edu/)

Child Trends (http://www.childtrends.org/)

Heritage Foundation (http://www.heritage.org/)

Institute for Research on Poverty (http://www.irp.wisc.edu/)

Joint Center for Poverty Research (http://www.jcpr.org/)

National Poverty Center (http://www.npc.umich.edu/)

Urban Institute (http://www.urban.org/)

Sample syllabus

Poverty, Welfare, and the Safety Net (excerpt from syllabus)

Description of course

The terms ‘safety net’ and ‘welfare state’ commonly refer to a range of public and non‐governmental programs and policies that seek to protect individuals and their families from distress and hardship and/or improve the quality of their lives. In this course, we will primarily explore facets of the American welfare state that seek to assuage poverty and its effects. Although we will largely approach this topic from a sociological perspective, this area of inquiry is quite interdisciplinary. Consequently, we will be reading works from other academic disciplines throughout the course.

This is an advanced course, designed for students who already have substantial familiarity with the causes and consequences of poverty. In the first third of the course, we will investigate the early development of our nation's welfare state, from poorhouses and outdoor relief to mothers’ pensions and the New Deal. We then move to exploring Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and anti‐poverty policies of the 1960s and 1970s. Next, we examine changes in federal welfare policy over the last couple of decades, focusing on the welfare reforms of the 1990s, the consequences of these reforms, and the experiences of poor women since these changes. We end the course by looking in more depth at the private safety net (particularly, secular and faith‐based organizations that serve the poor), public opinion, and future directions for welfare policy.

Course outline and reading assignments

Week 1. Introduction to poverty and the course

Iceland, John. 2006. Chapters 3–5 (pp. 20–97). Poverty in America: A Handbook. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Rank, Mark. 2003. ‘As American as Apple Pie: Poverty and Welfare.’Contexts 2(3): 41–46.

Optional: Katz, Michael B. 2001. ‘Poverty and Inequality in the New American City’ (pp. 33–56). The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

Week 2. What is welfare? Why have welfare states?

Katz, Michael B. 2001. ‘The Invention of Welfare’ (pp. 1–8) and ‘The American Welfare State’ (only pp. 9–17). The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

Howard, Christopher. 1993. ‘The Hidden Side of the American Welfare State.’Political Science Quarterly. 108(3): 403–436 (note: pages 420–433 are optional).

T. H. Marshall. 1977. Selection from ‘Citizenship and Social Class’ in Class, Citizenship, and Social Development: Essays by T.H. Marshall. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

UN Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html)

Week 3. Early developments

Piven, Frances F. and Richard A. Cloward. 1993. ‘Relief, Labor, and Civil Disorder: An Overview’ (pp. 3–42). Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare (updated edition). New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Katz, Michael B. 1996. ‘The Origins and Failure of the Poorhouse’ and ‘Outdoor Relief’ (pp. 3–59). In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History of Welfare in America: Tenth Anniversary Edition. New York, NY: BasicBooks.

Week 4. Mothers pensions, the New Deal, and ADC

Piven, Frances F. and Richard A. Cloward. 1993. Chapter 2–3 (pp. 45–119). Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare (updated edition). New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Linda Gordon. 1994. Selection from Pitied But Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Brown, Michael K. 1999. Chapter 2 (pp. 63–96). Race, Money and the American Welfare State. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Quadagno, Jill S. 1994. ‘Unfinished Democracy’ (only pp. 17–25). The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined the War on Poverty. New York, NY and Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Optional: DeParle, Jason. 2004. Chapter 2 (pp. 20–37). American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare. New York, NY: Penguin Press.

Week 5. AFDC, welfare rights, and anti‐poverty policies in the 1960s and 1970s

Piven, Frances F. and Richard A. Cloward. 1993. Chapters 4 and 6 (pp. 123–146; pp. 183–199). Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare (updated edition). New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Quadagno, Jill S. 1994. Selection from The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined the War on Poverty. New York, NY and Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Tilmon, Johnnie. 1972. ‘Welfare is a Women's Issue.’Ms. Spring: 2 pages. http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2002/tillmon.asp

DeParle, Jason. 2004. Chapters 3 and 5 (pp. 38–57; 85–100). American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare. New York, NY: Penguin Press.

Weeks 6 and 7. Devolution, the 1980s and 90s, and ‘ending welfare as we know it’

Katz, Michael B. 2001. ‘The Family Support Act’ (pp. 71–76); ‘Governors as Welfare Reformers’ (pp. 77–103); and ‘Fighting Poverty 1990s Style’ (pp. 293–316). The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

Hays, Sharon. 2003. Chapter 1 (pp. 3–31). Flat Broke with Children. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

DeParle, Jason. 2004. Chapters 4; 6–9 (pp. 58–81; 101–174). American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare. New York, NY: Penguin Press.

Optional: Katz, Michael B. 2001. ‘Urban Social Welfare in an Age of Austerity’ (pp. 104–136). The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

Week 8. Assessing welfare reform

Kissane, Rebecca Joyce and Richard Krebs. 2007. ‘Assessing Welfare Reform, Over a Decade Later.’Sociology Compass 1(2): 789–813. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00029.x.

Katz, Michael B. 2001. pp. 328–340 of ‘The End of Welfare’The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

Weeks 9–11. A closer look at life after welfare reform

Hays, Sharon. 2003. Chapters 2–8 (pp. 33–240) Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

DeParle, Jason. 2004. Chapters 10–18 (pp. 175–322). American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare. New York, NY: Penguin Press.

Week 12.  The Private Safety Net: Nonprofit, Community‐Based Service Provision

Katz, Michael B. 2001. ‘The Independent Sector, the Market and the State’ (only pp. 137–155 and 162–170). The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

Kissane, Rebecca Joyce. 2003. ‘What's Need Got to Do with It? Why Poor Women Do Not Use Nonprofit Social Services.’Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. 30(2): 127–148.

Kissane, Rebecca Joyce. 2006. ‘Responsible but Uninformed? Nonprofit Executive and Program Directors’ Knowledge of Welfare Reform.’Social Service Review. 80(2): 322–345.

Reread ‘Nonprofit organizations and welfare reform’ (pp. 802–804) in Kissane, Rebecca Joyce and Richard Krebs. 2007. ‘Assessing Welfare Reform, Over a Decade Later.’Sociology Compass 1(2): 789–813. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00029.x.

Edin, Kathryn and Laura Lein. 1998. ‘The Private Safety Net: The Role of Charitable Organizations in the Lives of the Poor.’Housing Policy Debate. 9(4): 541–573.

Week 13. The Private Safety Net, continued: Faith‐based organizations (FBOs)

Katz, Michael B. 2001. ‘Faith, Charity, and Inner Cities’ (pp. 155–162). The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

Twombly, Eric. 2002. ‘Religious Versus Secular Human Service Organizations: Implications for Public Policy.’Social Science Quarterly. 83(4): 847–961.

Kissane, Rebecca Joyce. 2007. ‘How Do Faith‐Based Organizations Compare to Secular Providers? Nonprofit Directors’ and Poor Women's Assessments of FBOs.’Journal of Poverty. 11(4): 91–115.

Sherman, A. L. 2003. ‘Faith in Communities: A Solid Investment.’Society. 40(2): 19–26.

DiIulio Jr., John J. 2007. Selection from Godly Republic: A Centrist Blueprint for America's Faith‐Based Future. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Scott W. Allard. 2007. ‘Access and Stability: Comparing Faith‐based and Secular Nonprofit Service Providers.’ A paper presented at the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan 2007 conference, ‘The Impact of Religion and Faith‐Based Organizations on the Lives of Low Income Families.’

Optional: Smith, Steven Rathgeb and Michael R. Sosin. 2001. ‘Varieties of Faith‐Related Agencies.’Public Administration Review. 61(6): 651–670.

Week 14. Public Opinion, the Media, and Policy

Gilens, Martin. 1999. Chapters 2–3 (pp. 31–79); Chapter 5 (only pp. 111–132); Chapter 6 (pp. 133–153) and Chapter 8 (only pp. 184–203). Why Americans Hate Welfare. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Reingold, David A. and Helen Liu. Forthcoming. ‘Do Poverty Attitudes of Social Service Agency Directors Influence Organizational Behavior?’Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

Optional: Misra, Joya, Stephanie Moller, and Marina Karides. 2003. ‘Envisioning Dependency: Changing Media Depictions of Welfare in the 20th Century.’Social Problems. 50(4): 482–504.

Week 15. Future directions and course wrap‐up

Katz, Michael B. 2001. ‘Work, Democracy, and Citizenship’ (pp. 341–359). The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.

DeParle, Jason. 2004. Epilogue (pp. 323–338). American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare. New York, NY: Penguin Press.

Gilens, Martin. 1999. ‘The Politics of the American Welfare State’ (pp. 204–216). Why Americans Hate Welfare. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Rector, Robert. 2005. ‘Welfare Reform and the Healthy Marriage Initiative.’ Statement before the Sub‐committee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means U.S. House of Representatives. Available at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/tst021005a.cfm

Coontz, Stephanie and Nancy Folbre. 2002. ‘Marriage, Poverty, and Public Policy: A Discussion Paper from the Council on Contemporary Families.’ The American Prospect. March 19, 2002. Available at http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=marriage_poverty_and_public_policy

Films and videos

A Day's Work, A Day's Pay (57 min)

This documentary, based in New York City, follows three welfare recipients participating in the city's welfare‐to‐work program. The film not only documents the problems with the city jobs that the welfare recipients have to perform, but it also explores how the welfare recipients become social activists.

Eating Welfare (57 min)

Told through the youth of the community, this documentary investigates welfare reform's effect on Southeast Asian refugee families living in the Bronx. The film highlights problems particular to this population, as well as general issues facing the welfare recipients under workfare.

Ending Welfare As We Know It (90 min)

Take it From Me: Life After Welfare (75 min)

These two documentaries follow welfare families as they deal with the consequences of welfare reform and the complexities of their lives.

Poverty Outlaw (1 h)

This documentary follows the development of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU), ‘a multiracial organization of, by and for poor and homeless people’ located in Philadelphia (http://www.kwru.org/), as well as the hardships experienced by its members and other individuals living in poverty in America. A subsequent film, Outriders (1999; 1 h), follows KWRU on its New Freedom Bus Tour, in which the organization sought to document economic human rights violations across America.

Tempting Faith: Is Charitable Choice Working? (57 min)

This documentary explores the Charitable Choice provision of the 1996 welfare reform legislation through an examination of faith‐based programs in Indiana, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. The film includes views on both the pros and cons of faith‐based initiatives.

Waging a Living (85 min)

This documentary focuses on the lives of four low‐wage workers as they struggle to make ends meet.

Welfare Reform: Social Impact (29 min)

This program, released shortly after the passage of welfare reform, explores the history of welfare and issues surrounding welfare reform. It includes interviews with Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, Wendell Primus, and Rebecca Blank.

Seminar/Project ideas

1. This activity uncovers students’ misunderstandings regarding poverty and welfare.

Early in the semester (usually the first day of class), students take a ‘poverty and welfare quiz’ in which they answer factual and attitudinal questions on poverty and welfare. Instructors can then use the survey answers as springboards for weekly discussions on topics covered in the course. As the semester progresses, the students usually discover that they held many misconceptions regarding poverty and welfare.

2. This activity explores the hidden assumptions and meanings behind the words ‘dependent’ and ‘independent.’ Other words or phrases could also be explored in this manner, such as ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor.

Ask the students to list (in separate columns) images, individuals, and/or circumstances that come to mind when they hear the words ‘dependent’ and ‘independent’. Then, as a class or in small groups, discuss and assess the students’ lists. How are these lists culturally specific? Do visions of race, ethnicity, class, gender, age and household structure come into play? How? Why do you think certain images come to mind when you hear these words? How do our understandings of ‘dependence’ and ‘independence’ relate to our understandings of welfare and poverty? To anti‐poverty policies?

3. Among other topics, this activity can be used to launch discussions of deserving versus undeserving poor, universal versus means‐tested transfers, barriers to self‐sufficiency and employment, and notions of ‘governmental assistance.’

Break the students into small groups and give each group a sheet of paper with about six profiles that cover a variety of individuals and family types. For example, one profile might depict a 30‐year‐old housewife with two children whose husband works. Another might be an unemployed, divorced woman with six children who is clinically depressed, etc. Create profiles in such a way that students will likely consider in their working groups the employment, marital status, age, gender, child‐bearing, physical and mental health, and race and ethnicity of their profiled individuals. Have each group discuss to whom they would give governmental assistance, in what order they would distribute the aid, and what they would give each profiled family. Reconvene the class and compare the groups’ decisions. What did the groups’ consider ‘governmental assistance’? How did they decide how they would distribute the aid? Who was ‘worthy’ of help? Did they feel as if they needed additional information to make their decisions? What information did they want to have that the profiles did not provide? Why would that information be important to their deliberations?

4. This written assignment allows students to investigate a program or policy not covered comprehensively in the course.

Each student will choose a program or policy aimed to assuage poverty and/or its effects that we do not cover extensively in this course [e.g., Head Start, Unemployment Insurance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), public housing programs, etc]. All topics must be approved prior to beginning work on the project. After choosing a topic, students will write a final paper that includes the following components:

An introduction. What is the program? How is it meant to assuage poverty or its consequences? Why should we care about your topic?

A brief review of the history of the policy or program. When was the program started? Why? By whom? What key changes have occurred to the program over the years?

A review of the social science research literature on the program. What data and research are available on your program? What does the empirical research tell us about the program's effectiveness, clientele, take‐up rates, strengths, weaknesses, etc?

Specific policy recommendation(s). How can your program be improved? (Note: your recommendation(s) should be based on the empirical evidence not value‐laden opinions)

Instructors may want to add a final presentation to the above assignment. Having students present as part of a panel may be particularly effective if students’ topics cluster around several areas, for example ‘educational policy’, ‘family policy’, ‘housing policy’, etc.