The U.S welfare reform of 1996 restricted the eligibility of immigrants and introduced a punitive and devolved workfare system. While previous studies explained state variation in the welfare eligibility rules for immigrants, few studies have examined the intersection of immigration and welfare governance within a state. We choose the Californian welfare-to-work (WTW) program as a case, most likely to be inclusive to immigrants. Analyzing statistics, documents, and interviews at the state, county, and frontline levels, however, we also reveal multiple exclusionary mechanisms at various policy levels, such as complicated processes and insufficient translations. Our analysis of immigrant clients’ interviews helps to understand why many immigrants decide not to apply for welfare and how even WTW participants with an immigration background experience fear and are especially vulnerable to unfair treatments. Thus, the implementation of the punitive workfare regime along with the restrictive immigration regime can contradict the aim of WTW-policy to lead families in poverty to selfsufficiency.

No abstract

In her recent project, Imagination and Agency, Professor Vogt addresses the gap between the philosophical theory and empirical research. I was curious  about how this project aims to incorporate  philosophical questions into an interdisciplinary debate. She explains that there is a significant body of empirical work on mental simulation and imagination as components  of agency, since philosophers have also long been interested in imagination. However, philosophers  tend to focus on what are  called “lofty domains”: thought experiments, science, and art. Vogt argues that philosophy needs to find a place for imagination also in the context of the analysis of action. She thinks that it’s a long-standing idea that, when you make a decision, you decide between options that you consider possible. This is why her project examines the modal scope, the study of ways in which propositions can be true or false, of agential thought, since decision making is concerned with what is and what is not possible. As an example, she cites Aristotle, , who argued that no one deliberates about whether to become a god, because it’s impossible to become a god.

No abstract