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Neoliberalism, Race, and the American Welfare State

A Discussion of Joe Soss, Richard C. Fording, and Sanford F. Schram's Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2012

Lawrence M. Mead
Lawrence M. Mead*
Affiliation:
New York University
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Extract

Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race. By Joe Soss, Richard C. Fording, and Sanford F. Schram. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. 368p. $75.00 cloth, $25.00 paper.

It is more than 15 years since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act was passed in 1996, famously described by then-President Bill Clinton as “the end of welfare as we know it.” In Disciplining the Poor, Joe Soss, Richard Fording, and Sanford Schram analyze recent changes in US welfare policy as reflections of broader transformations of the “governance” of poverty, arguing that these transformations represent a new form of “neoliberal paternalism” in which race continues to be an important element. In this symposium, a diverse group of political scientists working on welfare issues have been asked to critically assess the book's account and to comment more broadly on the importance of the “governance of poverty” to the future of American politics.—Jeffrey C. Isaac, Editor

Type
Review Symposium: Neoliberalism, Race, and the American Welfare State
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 982 - 984
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

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