This year, Congress will debate and decide whether to reauthorize Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, the 1996 welfare "reform" program. The program mandated work requirements in state programs as part of a dramatic shift in federal policy. This course will prepare us to think about these issues by taking a look at the connections between welfare and work. Are welfare and "workfare" policies designed as a springboard out of poverty, or are they, as some charge, a way of "regulating the poor"? We'll look at current controversies around welfare, workfare, and poverty through the lenses of history and sociology. What are the relationships between class, race, gender and poverty? What impacts have welfare and public work programs had in the past? How have labor and welfare rights activists organized to influence policy? What lessons can we learn from the past and from community members with experience on all sides of this issue? How would we design public programs if the choices were ours?

Books :

• Nickel and Dimed: On [Not] Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich, Metropolitan Books, 2001
• Regulating The Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare, by Frances Fox Piven & Richard Cloward, Vintage, 1993
• For Crying Out Loud: Women's Poverty in the United States,

Diane Dujon & Ann Withorn, eds, South End Press, 1996
• Put To Work: Relief Programs in the Great Depression, by Nancy E. Rose, Monthly Review Press, 1994.

Links and supplemental Readings
http://192.211.16.13/curricular/ww01/links.html
 

Schedule
 

Date	Activities	Reading (completed)	What's due?
Week One: April 2	Program overview & expectations, covenants Introductions; Presentation by Stephanie Johnson, TESC student, seminar on films.	Films: Fast Food Women and Worthy Work, Worthless Wages
Week Two: April 9	Computer lab workshop; "think tanks" — who they are & what they do.	For Crying Out Loud, pp. 19-153. (41-65 and 107-119 are optional.)	1-2 page written reflection on text: Who is poor, and why? Discuss at least 3 authors’ views.
Week Three,  April 16	Guest: Grace Chang, faculty member and author of Disposable Domestics, on Regulating the Poor Seminar: Regulating the Poor	Regulating The Poor, Intro-p. 117.	1-2 page paper: What is the authors’ main thesis? What do you see around you that pertains to their argument?
Week Four:  April 23	Seminar: Regulating The Poor, Film: The Helping Hand. Lecture: What are segmented labor markets?	Regulating The Poor, pp. 124-282.	Notes on the text
Week Five: April 30	Seminar: Regulating The Poor,  Film: The Promised Land, from the Eyes on the Prize series.	Regulating The Poor, pp. 285-399	1-2 page paper: Did Piven and Cloward make a good case for their thesis? How do you see it confirmed or contradicted by current policy?
Week Six:  May 7	Seminar: Put To Work Lecture: Unemployed Organizing in the Pacific NW, 1930s.	Put To Work	Written reflection on text: imagine one 30s poverty program as it might work today
Week Seven: May 14	Seminar: Nickel and Dimed Guest speakers: Washington WorkFirst Lecture: Living wage, minimum wage, family wage, poverty line.	Nickel and Dimed	1-2 page paper: How did Ehrenreich answer her questions about welfare reform?
Week Eight: May 21	Film: Poverty Outlaw Seminar: For Crying Out Loud, Organizing on Welfare Issues.	For Crying Out Loud, 155-285	Written reflection on text. Has Piven’s analysis changed? How is it consistent or different?
Week Nine:  May 28	Seminar: For Crying Out Loud, Film: Holding Ground	For Crying Out Loud, pp. 287-end	work on final project and portfolios
Week Ten: June 4 lConclusions	Student presentations		Group presentations
Evaluation Week	Student/faculty evaluations by appointment		Draft self and faculty evaluations