Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race (Chicago Studies in American Politics)

Soss, Joe

ISBN 10: 0226768775 / ISBN 13: 9780226768779

Published by University of Chicago Press, 2011

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race (Chicago Studies in American Politics)
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226768775
• ISBN 13: 9780226768779
• Binding: paperback
• Edition: Illustrated.
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Disciplining the Poor explains the transformation of poverty governance over the past forty years -- why it happened, how it works today, and how it affects people. In the process, it clarifies the central role of race in this transformation and develops a more precise account of how race shapes poverty governance in the post-civil rights era. Connecting welfare reform to other policy developments, the authors analyze diverse forms of data to explicate the racialized origins, operations, and consequences of a new mode of poverty governance that is simultaneously neoliberal -- grounded in market principles -- and paternalist -- focused on telling the poor what is best for them. The study traces the rolling out of this new regime from the federal level, to the state and county levels, down to the service-providing organizations and frontline case workers who take disciplinary actions in individual cases. The result is a compelling account of how a neoliberal paternalist regime of poverty governance is disciplining the poor today.

About the Author

Joe Soss is the Cowles Professor for the Study of Public Service in the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Richard C. Fording is professor in and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Alabama. Sanford F. Schram teaches social theory and policy in the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College.