Reforming welfare, redefining poverty

Overview: "The overall purpose of this volume is to present welfare reform in the context of a bigger set of political, economic, and policy shifts and to examine how it forces us to reconceptualize poverty and antipoverty policies as well as to rethink the possibilities and limits of the U.S. welfare state. Since those most affected by welfare are single mothers, communities of color, and poor families, we also consider welfare changes in light of how they both mask and reveal gender, race, and class relations in the United States. In short, we think that the arguments here make the case for ending welfare reform as we know it. They provide part of a vision for a more dependable and responsive state, assuming that a democratic social movement must also be part of ending the economic and political bases for poverty."--The preface by Randy Albelda and Ann Withhorn. There has always been a storm of controversy regarding welfare in America, and for that matter, on a global level.^ Who should qualify, under what guidelines, and how and in what form should compensation be delivered? This issue of The Annals takes a long, hard, and sometimes hypercritical look at the Personal Responsibil