Lost Ground: Welfare Reform, Poverty, and Beyond
Much of this book's stimulating content which critiques the  impact of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity  Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) appeared originally in September  2001 as a special issue of the Annals of the American Academy of  Political and Social Science. Albelda (economics, Univ. of  Massachusetts, Boston; Economics and Feminism) and Withorn  (social policy, Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston) characterize the  bias of the 14 contributors (e.g., Lucy White, Joe Soss) as  "feminist, antiracist, and progressive." These contributors  consider the attitudes toward gender and race of those who  crafted and support the act, claiming that its welfare-to-work  stipulations are designed not so much to alleviate poverty as to  get recipients off "the dole." Throughout these reasoned essays,  a recurring theme is that the PRWORA overlooks, if not actively  discourages, the prerequisites for self-sufficiency, i.e., a  living wage, affordable child care and shelter, education and  vocational training, healthcare support, and community- and  individually-based power. The act's single-minded goal appears  to be discontinuing welfare help "as we know it." This  thoughtful and socially relevant work is highly recommended for  academic, public, and professional libraries. (Index not  seen.) Suzanne W. Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology at AlfredCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.