2018
DOI: 10.1177/0891241618784151
|View full text |Cite
|
Sign up to set email alerts
|

From the Long Arm of the State to Eyes on the Street: How Poor African American Mothers Navigate Surveillance in the Social Safety Net

Abstract: Drawing on interviews and ethnographic observation, this article examines how poor African American mothers in Houston, Texas, experience seeking help from the safety net, focusing on mothers’ perceptions and interpretation of the application process. Compared to welfare, seeking help from nonprofits and churches involved little formal surveillance and there was no punitive mechanism involved if mothers did not adhere to the minimal conditions required for participation. Mothers framed this as a preferable opt… Show more

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...
3
1

Citation Types

0
12
0

Year Published

2019
2019
2024
2024

Publication Types

Select...
8
1

Relationship

0
9

Authors

Journals

citations
Cited by 26 publications
(12 citation statements)
references
References 68 publications
0
12
0
Order By: Relevance
“…4. Hughes (2018), on the other hand, finds that clients perceive nonprofits’ requests for information as minimal and non-intrusive compared to those of welfare agencies; however, he does not explain the extent to which the nonprofits in his field site depended on government funding, nor whether requests of information differ across nonprofits depending on their funding sources.…”
Section: Notesmentioning
confidence: 81%
“…4. Hughes (2018), on the other hand, finds that clients perceive nonprofits’ requests for information as minimal and non-intrusive compared to those of welfare agencies; however, he does not explain the extent to which the nonprofits in his field site depended on government funding, nor whether requests of information differ across nonprofits depending on their funding sources.…”
Section: Notesmentioning
confidence: 81%
“…Even welfare clients themselves can favor restrictive policies and share negative perceptions of others who receive means-tested benefits, and may regard themselves as exceptions to a generally blameworthy recipient population (Gustafson, 2011: 3; Hughes, 2019). Some women who rely on public assistance say that they would feel better about themselves if they were able to discontinue program participation (Edin and Lein, 1997: 144).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Both online and offline forms of tie appropriation illustrate informational exposure as a key aspect of poverty in the contemporary United States (see also Eubanks 2018; Hughes 2018; Madden et al 2017). Welfare clients’ circumstances are particularly conducive to harmful appropriation.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Fraud workers generally view clients with suspicion, and many see program participation as inherently problematic, especially if it is longer-term (see Soss et al 2011). Even clients may subscribe to such thinking, regarding themselves as exceptions among a generally blameworthy group (Gustafson 2011; Hughes 2018). Fraud control work both implicates and reproduces welfare stigma.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%