Policing Welfare Punitive Adversarialism in Public Assistance

Means-tested government assistance in the United States requires recipients to meet certain criteria and continue to maintain their eligibility so that benefits are paid to the "truly needy."  Welfare is regarded with such suspicion in this country that considerable resources are spent policing the boundaries of eligibility, which are delineated by an often confusing and baroque set of rules and regulations.  Even minor infractions of the many rules can cause people to be dropped from these programs, and possibly face criminal prosecution.  In this book, Spencer Headworth offers the first study of the structure of fraud control in the welfare system by examining the relations between different levels of governmental agencies, from federal to local, and their enforcement practices. Policing Welfare shows how the enforcement regime of welfare has been constructed to further stigmatize those already living in poverty and deepens disparities of class, race, and gender in our society. 

ISBN:	9780226779362
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Imprint:	The University of Chicago Press
Published date:	11 May 2021
DEWEY:	363.25963
DEWEY edition:	23
Language:	English
Number of pages:	272
Weight:	450g
Height:	153mm
Width:	229mm
Spine width:	19mm

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