Both sides of the Paycheck: Recommending Thrift to the Poor in Job Readiness Programs

Hennigan, Brian; Purser, Gretchen

doi:10.1177/0896920520964537

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Collins and Mayer ( 2010 , 149) explain this shift from entitlements to welfare contracts in the 1970s as one where “citizenship was not the birthright for everyone but had to be earned through productive labor. This doctrine drew on our nation’s long-standing embrace of work as a key value, but it took the additional step of arguing that citizenship should be contingent on performance.” Workfare and job readiness programs are indicative of the restructured relationship between the state and individuals following welfare reform (Broughton 2003 ; Dickinson 2016 ; Hennigan and Purser 2018 , 2020 ; Purser and Hennigan 2017 , 2018 ). Lawmakers have even required recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – which provides food assistance to more than 42 million in the United States – to show their deservingness through work (Aussenberg and Billings 2021 ; Dickinson 2019 ).…”

Section: The Emergence Of Contractual Citizenshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Hurry up and wait”: Stigma, Poverty, and Contractual Citizenship

Mott

2022

Qual Sociol

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The emergence of welfare contractualism in the United States in the 1970s marked a shift from viewing welfare as an entitlement to viewing welfare as a right to be earned through work. Combined with the continual degradation of labor markets since the 1970s, the rise of neoliberal ideology emphasizing individualism, and the passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the devolved welfare system – most often managed by a myriad of social service nonprofits – has exacerbated the difficulties of the poor. Scholars have noted, for instance, the loss of civil rights and the proliferation of administrative burdens – including incessant waiting – with which poor people seeking aid are increasingly faced. But “contractual citizenship,” I argue, has not just remade relations between the poor and the state. Rather, as a diffuse cultural ethos, contractual citizenship has also remade relations between and amongst the poor themselves, exacerbating stigmatization, distancing, and denigration. Drawing upon an ethnography of a soup kitchen based in Syracuse, New York, I argue that as a consequence of contractual citizenship, prospective recipients of aid and the poor more broadly adapt their behavior to appear as deserving, worthy citizens and, simultaneously, externally defame their peers for their lesser behaviors. Those who take maximum advantage of free resources – such as attending multiple emergency food programs and taking more than one plate of food – are often deemed by other poor recipients of aid as greedy, ungrateful, and selfish. Thus, the repetitious and time-consuming nature of interacting with the state for basic resources – such as housing or welfare – is further complicated by this intraclass stigma. These findings not only shed light on the challenges of building solidarity amongst the poor but show how political and economic shifts influence how poor people interact with each other and the state.

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Section: The Emergence Of Contractual Citizenshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Hurry up and wait”: Stigma, Poverty, and Contractual Citizenship

Mott

2022

Qual Sociol

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“…Tensions between structure and agency (or individual versus system/societal [or “root causes”] responsibility) as discrete explanations for poverty (e.g., Greenbaum, 2015 ; Haskins, 2009 ; Hennigan & Purser, 2021 ; Horowitz et al, 2018 ; Lewis, 1966 ; Patterson & Fosse, 2015 ; Ryan, [ 1971 ] 1976 ; Treas, 2010 ; Wacquant, 2009 , 2012 ; Wilson, 1987 , 2009 ; Wright, 1993 ) and sickness (e.g., Baum & Fisher, 2014 ; Berg et al, 2021 ; Blaxter, 1995 , 1997 ; Brown & Baker, 2012 ; Crawford, 1979 ; Knowles, 1977 ; Petersen & Lupton, [ 1996 ] 2000 ; Saguy & Riley, 2005 ; Schirmer & Michailakis, 2011 ) have long characterized academic, policy, and ideological discourses (Trnka & Trundle, 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responsibility in Medical Sociology: A Second, Reflexive Look

Rier

2022

Am Soc

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Personal responsibility has emerged as an important element in many countries’ public health planning, and has attracted substantial debate in public health discourse. Contemporary medical sociology typically resists such “responsibilization” as victim-blaming, by privileged elites, that obscures important structural factors and inequities. This paper, based primarily on a broad review of how contemporary Anglophone medical sociology literatures treat responsibility and blame, points out advantages of taking responsibility seriously, particularly from the individual’s perspective. These advantages include: empowerment; responsibility-as-coping-mechanism; moral dignity; and the pragmatic logic of doing for oneself, rather than passively awaiting societal reforms. We also offer possible reasons why sociologists and their subjects view these issues so differently, and suggest some areas for future research.

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‘You Can’t Sacrifice Nothing’: Exploring the Lived Realities of Chronic Poverty in a Cost-of-Living Crisis Through Participatory Research

White,

Evans,

Ross

2024

Critical Sociology

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The current portrayal of the cost-of-living crisis as an isolated, unexpected issue neglects the ongoing struggles of those in chronic poverty. This article utilises agnotology and zemiology to explore these overlooked experiences. Through the use of participatory research, the article reveals the state’s neglect of chronic poverty amid public discourse on the cost-of-living crisis, and critiques proposed solutions that demand further sacrifices from those already suffering. The article highlights the lack of accountability for neoliberal policies that exacerbate poverty and vulnerability. It exposes the institutional violence and stigma against the structurally vulnerable, whose hardships are normalised. Through a zemiological and agnotological lens, the article stresses the need to reframe the cost-of-living crisis by acknowledging chronic harm and amplifying the voices of those experiencing entrenched poverty. This reframing is crucial, not only during times of crisis, but also within the broader context of systemic structural inequality.

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Both sides of the Paycheck: Recommending Thrift to the Poor in Job Readiness Programs

Cited by 3 publications

References 42 publications

“Hurry up and wait”: Stigma, Poverty, and Contractual Citizenship

“Hurry up and wait”: Stigma, Poverty, and Contractual Citizenship

Responsibility in Medical Sociology: A Second, Reflexive Look

‘You Can’t Sacrifice Nothing’: Exploring the Lived Realities of Chronic Poverty in a Cost-of-Living Crisis Through Participatory Research

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