Work, welfare and politics

From an editorial team that includes Piven, one of the foremost academic critics of conservative ideologies and practices surrounding welfare reform (including that of Bill Clinton's), comes 22 essays that explore a wide range of political, economic, ideological, and social issues surrounding the implementation of the Orwellian-named Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 and the slashing of Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, as well as current efforts to expand upon those assaults on the social safety net. The articles are separated into sections that respectively deal with the politics and ideology of welfare reform (with Piven describing a "politics of greed"), the central issues of motherhood and sex associated with reform ideology, critiques of the stated rationales for the "Work First" ideology, welfare reform as a method of social control and repression of the poor, the effects of reform on family well-being, its impact on state and local systems, and political efforts to reverse the damage of reform. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.