“Welfare Reform, Personal Narratives and the Media: How Welfare
Recipients and Journalists Frame the Welfare Debate”
Vicki Lens
Yeshiva University
Abstract: As TANF comes up for reauthorization in 2002, stereotypes of welfare recipients
must be challenged so that public animosity can be transformed into public support.
This article explores strategies for doing so, drawing on a study describing the
stories welfare recipients told about their lives and experiences with welfare in
the New York Times and the Washington Post during the 1996 debate over welfare reform.
The role of journalists in framing the welfare debate is also explored. Lessons
are drawn from the findings on the effectiveness of recipients’ personal narratives
in changing their public image. Suggestions are made on how to utilize the media
to build support for women in need of public assistance.
“The Increasing Significance of Class: The Relative Effects
of Race and Socioeconomic Status on Academic Achievement”
Juan Battle
City University of New York
and
Michael Lewis
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Abstract: Previous researchers have found that, on average, African American students
do not perform as well in school as their white counterparts. Another frequent finding
is that the higher a student’s socioeconomic status the higher her or his educational
achievement. However, there has been little attention paid to how race and socioeconomic
status interact to affect educational achievement. Using a nationally representative
sample from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS), this research examines
the longitudinal effects of race and socioeconomic status on 12th grade educational
achievement and achievement two years after high school. For 12th grade outcomes,
we found that (1) African American students do not perform as well as their white
counterparts, and (2) socioeconomic status is more than three times more important
than race in predicting outcomes. Results for two years after high school were very
surprising: (1) when controlling for socioeconomic status, African American students
actually outperform their white counterparts; (2) socioeconomic status and social
capital are more powerful in predicting outcomes two years after high school; and
(3) white students receive a greater benefit for increases in socioeconomic status
than their African American counterparts.
“Rational Choice in Medicaid Managed Care: A Critique”
Shirley A. Hill
University of Kansas
Mary K. Zimmerman
University of Kansas
and
Michael Fox
University of Kansas
Abstract: Market-based health care policies cast patients as active decision-making
consumers who are able to choose among health plans and select the highest quality
and lowest priced providers. Embodied in the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans
Study (CAHPS), a national policy initiative based on assumptions of rational choice,
such a model has recently been extended to low income populations enrolled in the
U. S. Medicaid program. This paper describes and seeks to investigate the efficacy
of this policy initiative by examining three questions: (1) Are Medicaid recipients
willing to take an active stance in selecting health plans? (2) Do they see the
varying health plans as offering genuine choice? and (3) Does the ability to choose
one’s own health plan help address some of the long-standing obstacles to quality
care for the poor? Analyses of these questions are informed by a review of existing
knowledge about the life circumstances and health needs of low income populations
(particularly low income women), and by original data from Kansas Medicaid recipients,
gathered in conjunction with a state-wide version of CAHPS. We find significant
discrepancies between the assumptions of this model and the realities of low income
women’s lives. We conclude that the current consumer model of health care reflects
class-biased assumptions about rational choice that negate the daily experiences
of the poor, offers little in the way of real choice, and fails to address long-standing
health needs of low income populations. Market incentives and consumerism will be
effective only when the social context of poverty is taken into account and addressed
by health care initiatives.
“Single Motherhood, Employment, or Social Assistance: Why Are
U. S. Women Poorer than Women in Other Affluent Nations?”
Karen Christopher
University of Pittsburgh
Abstract: U. S. women have higher poverty rates than women in other affluent nations.
In this paper I attempt to explain this disparity by examining the effect of single
motherhood, employment, and social assistance on women’s poverty. With cross-national
comparisons of quantitative data, I find that the relatively high rate of single
motherhood among U. S. women is not a main cause of their high poverty rates. Compared
to their counterparts in other Western nations, U. S. women, mothers and single
mothers are among the most likely to earn poverty wages. In addition, U. S. social
assistance programs are the least effective in reducing poverty. I conclude with
the policy implications of my findings, focusing on strategies to ameliorate the
high poverty rates of U. S. women and mothers.
““This Country Is not Women-Friendly or Child-Friendly”:
Talking about the Challenge of Moving from Welfare-to-Work”
Heather Boushey
Economic Policy Institute
Abstract: Through the use of focus groups, this paper examines how former welfare
recipients living in public housing in New York City adapted to the policy changes
caused by welfare reform, how they experienced their transition to the “world
of work” and how this affected their perceptions about their quality of life
and their personal and familial relationships. The primary theme that emerged from
the focus group sessions was the difficulties reconciling parenthood with employment.
A second theme was that many participants felt discouraged and frustrated with the
paths available to them in the labor market. Labor market conditions in New York
City only exacerbated participants’ difficulties maintaining employment and
supporting a family, heightening the tensions between parenthood and paid employment.
Their frustrations with the paid labor market fed back into the primary theme of
the difficulties of reconciling parenthood with employment because the paid labor
market did not offer them well-paying part-time work or flexible schedules to help
the participants meet their parental responsibilities. The third theme was that
self-esteem improved greatly with employment. Here, the analysis brings to light
the effects of the tension between paid employment and care giving on self-esteem
and the relative lack of value that society places on caring labor.