Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present

by Mimi Abramovitz (Author), Miriam Abramovitz (Author)

New
Paperback
2017
$41.40

Widely praised as an outstanding contribution to social welfare and feminist scholarship, Regulating the Lives of Women (1988, 1996) was one of the first books to apply a race and gender lens to the U.S. welfare state. The first two editions successfully exposed how myths and stereotypes built into welfare state rules and regulations define women as deserving or undeserving of aid depending on their race, class, gender, and marital status. Based on considerable new research, the preface to this third edition explains the rise of Neoliberal policies in the mid-1970s, the strategies deployed since then to dismantle the welfare state, and the impact of this sea change on women and the welfare state after 1996. Published upon the twentieth anniversary of welfare reform, Regulating the Lives of Women offers a timely reminder that public policy continues to punish poor women, especially single mothers-of-color for departing from prescribed wife and mother roles.

The book will appeal to undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students of social work, sociology, history, public policy, political science, and women, gender, and black studies - as well as today's researchers and activists.

Synopsis

Widely praised as an outstanding contribution to social welfare and feminist scholarship, Regulating the Lives of Women (1988, 1996) was one of the first books to apply a race and gender lens to the U.S. welfare state. The first two editions successfully exposed how myths and stereotypes built into welfare state rules and regulations define women as deserving or undeserving of aid depending on their race, class, gender, and marital status. Based on considerable new research, the preface to this third edition explains the rise of Neoliberal policies in the mid-1970s, the strategies deployed since then to dismantle the welfare state, and the impact of this sea change on women and the welfare state after 1996. Published upon the twentieth anniversary of welfare reform, Regulating the Lives of Women offers a timely reminder that public policy continues to punish poor women, especially single mothers-of-color for departing from prescribed wife and mother roles.

The book will appeal to undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students of social work, sociology, history, public policy, political science, and women, gender, and black studies - as well as today's researchers and activists.

$41.40

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 354
Edition: 3
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 22 Aug 2017
ISBN 10: 0415785502
ISBN 13: 9780415785501

Media Reviews

Regulating the Lives of Women is an essential resource. A classic account of how gendered social policies shape poor women's options, this new edition is especially important given the end of welfare and growing challenges to women's well-being.

Alice Kessler-Harris, author of In Pursuit of Equity and R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History, Columbia University, USA

Regulating the Lives of Women, a nuanced history of American social welfare policy through a feminist lens, reveals how gendered and racialized division of labor and the racialized institutions frame social policy and the lives of all women. Defining the welfare state as an arena of political struggle, the book is a must for students, researchers, progressive policy makers and activists who will find it both insightful and, better yet, useful.
John Ehrenreich, author of Third Wave Capitalism and Professor of Psychology at SUNY Old Westbury, USA

Well-researched, coherent, and powerful, the book is today's must-read. Appeals to both younger and older generations who are upset about the assault on women's rights and interested in the historical roots of today's public policies.

Michael Reisch, Daniel Thursz Distinguished Professor of Social Justice, University of Maryland, USA

Regulating the Lives of Women captures the soul of activism and pushes intellectual boundaries with rigor. Having used this book in classes in Harlem, the rural Mountain West, and the Ivy-League, I saw it transform these very different students from dispassionate policy observers to eager and critical thinkers of the gendered welfare state.

Amy Castro Baker, Associate Professor, School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Author Bio

Mimi Abramovitz, the Bertha Capen Reynolds Professor of Social Policy in the Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, City University of New York, USA, writes extensively about women, welfare, poverty and activism. From welfare caseworker to welfare rights organizer to welfare state scholar, Abramovitz has galvanized a generation of students explaining how public policy shapes the lives of white women and women of color and how they fight back.