About
In 1996, Congress passed and President Clinton signed a welfare reform bill that represented a sharp break from the past. This course analyzes the origins of the law and its initial outcomes. The course will review social science and legal thinking about welfare programs and policies, emphasizing how they are influenced by and how they affect trends in the labor market and family structure.
The beginning of the course will be devoted to learning the current state of public assistance eligibility, requirements to continue receiving benefits, and the result of welfare eligibility limits on families. We will also consider articles by two of the most prominent poverty researchers, and how differently the two explain poverty. Particular attention will be given to how several new laws are being implemented and to their consequences for recipients. Are employers willing to hire welfare recipients? Are recipients finding and holding on to jobs? What are the consequences of the new laws for welfare recipients, their children, and the absent parents of their children? More recently, poverty and financial strain has taken on a new look during the credit and housing crisis. What has been the impact of the crisis and what policy reforms have been passed to address these issues? The final part of the course will look at the intersection of poverty and several specific substantive issues. For example, we will discuss how poverty impacts the availability of education resources.
At the conclusion of the course, students should have an extensive understanding of the 1996 welfare reform law and its impact on persons receiving welfare. Students should also have a broad understanding of ways in which poverty impacts other social systems, such as the justice system, the housing market, and education.