Welfare myths: The transmission of values and work among TANF families

Spatial Context and Poverty: Area-Level Effects and Micro-Level Effects on Household Poverty in the Texas Borderland & Lower Mississippi Delta: United States, 2006

“…The culture of poverty thesis suggests that people growing up poor are socialized to internalize values that prevent them from participating in the economic mainstream and separating them from the middle class, thus perpetuating their impoverishment. Although this theory has been widely criticized (Wilson 1987;Lee et al 2008) for lacking both empirical evidence and a misplaced emphasis on values over structural disadvantages, it has continued to play a part in many discussions about U.S. poverty (Murray 1994). The implication of all three of these micro-level orientations is that there are several micro-level attributes that serve to make people differentially susceptible to poverty.…”

Intergenerational Welfare Use among Immigrants: Myth of Culture of Poverty and Welfare Dependency

“…Contradicting one prior study (Lee et al, 2008), no significant association was observed between the adult children's TANF use and their parents' AFDC use or indeed any of the explanatory variables describing the parents. The present findings imply that, among immigrants, intergenerational welfare use is uncommon, and intergenerational patterns of socioeconomic status and of family values are unlikely.…”

“…One study showed noncitizens to be more likely than citizens to receive TANF assistance (Albert & King, 2011); other studies found immigrants to be less likely than the U.S.-born to receive TANF (Fomby & Cherlin, 2004;Girard, 2015). One study indicated that parents' welfare use increased children's likelihood of TANF participation in adulthood, also reporting specifically, however, that parents' belief systems showed no effect on children's later TANF use (Lee et al, 2008). Perhaps, another study has posited, this is explained by negative effects of parents' welfare use diminishing their children's educational achievement yet not their children's adulthood employment (Balistreri, 2010;Ku, 2001).…”

“…From some viewpoints for instance the culture of poverty perspective and welfare culture perspective welfare programs appear to foster beliefs and behaviors deviating from mainstream culture's endorsement of selfreliance (Corcoran, 1995). These perspectives suggest, moreover, that children growing up in families using welfare benefits fail to acquire the -work ethic‖ as well as mainstream -family values,‖ trapping them in the welfare system as they become adults never taught to be self-sufficient (Jones & Luo, 1999;Lee, Singelmann, & Yom-Tov, 2008). Other perspectives on welfare use exist (Corcoran, 1995), some comprising social structural approaches.…”

Public Assistance Reception, Social Service Use, and Developmental Outcomes among Economically Disadvantaged Young People

“…Public assistance as a source of income for poor families is a subject of considerable public debate (Lee, Singelmann, and Yom-Tov, 2008). A central question in the debate is whether its positive results -providing needed resources to recipients and their children -outweigh any unintended negative results -for example, the reduction in work effort, or the fostering of a welfare culture that is passed from parents to children (McLoyd, 1998).…”