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Week Four: Social class and public policy

Week Four: Social class and public policy. I. Low Income Budget II. Video: Let’s Get Married Groups So why has marriage become so uncommon? Do you approve of the goals of these marriage movement programs” Do you believe they will be effective?. “New Deal” of the 1930s.

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Week Four: Social class and public policy

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  1. Week Four: Social class and public policy I. Low Income Budget II. Video: Let’s Get Married Groups So why has marriage become so uncommon? Do you approve of the goals of these marriage movement programs” Do you believe they will be effective? Sociology 1201

  2. “New Deal” of the 1930s • Social Security Act of 1935 • One of its provisions was Aid to Dependent Children (“suitable homes” and “deserving poor”)… • Basically aimed at white widows and their children Locally administered. In the American south, African Americans were excluded Sociology 1201

  3. Southern Democrats and the Power of the Filibuster • Florida Representative James Wilcox: "There is another matter of great importance in the South and that is the problem of our Negro labor. There has always been a difference in the wage scale of white and colored labor. So long as Florida people are permitted to handle the matter, the delicate and perplexing problem can be handled.“ • South also the poorest part of the country and in need of New Deal programs Sociology 1201

  4. The War on Poverty • President Lyndon Johnson: “an all out war” to “abolish poverty in our time. Its provisions included: • Head Start • Food Stamps • Expansion of Aid to Families with Dependent Children Sociology 1201

  5. Effects of the War on Poverty • 1964-1972: Combined purchasing power of AFDC and food stamps rose 40% • Child poverty reached a low point of 14% in 1969 • By the early 1980s, it was up to 23% and it has fluctuated between 23% and 16% since that time Sociology 1201

  6. More Effects • % of single mothers collecting AFDC rose from 29% in 1964 to 63% in 1972 and the overall number of single mothers also rose in those years • Change from an overwhelmingly white program to a program in which the largest group of mothers and kids was black • The Great Migration • The National Welfare Rights Organization Sociology 1201

  7. Background to welfare reform • By 1993, Christopher Jencks (Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty, and the Underclass), would term AFDC the “most unpopular social program in America” • Basic changes in the family; working and middle class mothers now in the work force so why should poor mothers be subsidized to stay at home Sociology 1201

  8. Groups • Low Income Budget Sociology 1201

  9. Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996 • Established a new welfare system, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) • Five year limits, which many states shortened • Immediate requirements about jobs and job-seeking • Short term education and training • Family Cap: no work exemption and no support for children born to mothers already on welfare • Carrot and stick: Sanctions and set-asides Sociology 1201

  10. Promoting “Family Values” • $50 million per year to promote abstinence education • $100 million per year to the five states that reduce out of wedlock births the most without increasing abortions • Penalties to mothers who fail to control a child’s truancy • No TANF for minors unless living with parents • Stronger programs to collect child support Sociology 1201

  11. Let’s Get Married • Discussion Questions: • 1. Why do you think marriage has become rare among poor families? • 2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of a program like PREP? • 3. Can the government effectively promote marriage? Sociology 1201

  12. Childcare assistance TANF theoretically provides generous childcare assistance • Hays, Flat Broke with Children: “The good news for taxpayers and the bad news for poor single mothers and their children is that the majority of welfare clients never actually receive childcare subsidies.” • Why not? Fiscal crisis and state control Sociology 1201

  13. Is TANF a success? • In terms of getting women and children off welfare, yes… remember Aisha and Wanda in “Legacy” • But among the advanced industrial countries, Denmark and Finland lead the way with less than 3% of children in poverty. The United States is at the bottom of the list: Children’s Defense Fund Sociology 1201

  14. Results • A dramatic decrease in the number of mothers and children collecting welfare • A large movement of “welfare mothers” into the workforce, often in low-wage jobs • More women and children in the homeless population • An increased usage of food shelves, soup kitchens, homeless shelters • And now, in 2010, 6 million Americans whose only financial support is food stamps ($320 a month for a mother with two kids) Sociology 1201

  15. Can We do Better?: the MFIP Demonstration Project • In Minnesota, 14,000 welfare recipients and applicants, randomly assigned to either MFIP or AFDC in 1994… pilot projected last three years, with careful evaluation of six-year impacts on parents and children • Earned Income Tax Credit… created under President Ford, expanded under Clinton… Sociology 1201

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