Living Off the Government?

Race, Gender, and the Politics of Welfare

By: Anne M. Whitesell

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Paperback | 19 November 2024

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Paperback
320 Pages

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22.9 x 15.2

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Explores the ways welfare recipients lack adequate political representation
Who deserves public assistance from the government? This age-old question has been revived by policymakers, pundits, and activists following the massive economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Anne Whitesell takes up this timely debate, showing us how our welfare system, in its current state, fails the people it is designed to serve. From debates over stimulus check eligibility to the uncertain future of unemployment benefits, Living Off the Government? tackles it all.
Examining welfare rules across eight different states, as well as 19,000 state and local interest groups, Whitesell shows how we determine who is-and who isn't-deserving of government assistance. She explores racial and gender stereotypes surrounding welfare recipients, particularly Black women and mothers; how different groups take advantage of these harmful stereotypes to push their own political agendas; and how the interests and needs of welfare recipients are inadequately represented as a result.
Living Off the Government? highlights how harmful stereotypes about the race, gender, and class of welfare recipients filter into our highly polarized political arena to shape public policy. Whitesell calls out a system that she believes serves special interests and not the interests of low-income Americans.

Industry Reviews

A thoughtful and nuanced analysis of the politics of anti-poverty policy. Living off the Government illuminates the complex intersection of voters, political parties, interest groups, and descriptive representation as they impact government cash assistance in the U.S. states. Whitesell's outstanding book shows how politics shapes the lives of an intersectionally disadvantaged population, sometimes for good and often for ill. -- Martin Gilens, author of Democracy in America?: What Has Gone Wrong and What We Can Do About It

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