| In 1996 radical welfare legislation dismantled the U.S. welfare program that began in 1935, and created a temporary assistance program that drastically reduced the rolls. A defining feature of the legislation was devolution, the shifting of welfare provisioning from the federal government to states, private entities and individuals, thus creating a complex pattern of state programs with diverse regulations. Time limits, work mandates and sanctions force recipients of welfare into low-paid jobs; those remaining receive meager benefits in exchange for welfare program compliance.;Throughout the history of the U.S. welfare program, numerous policy changes have had varying effects on families. My anthropological research investigates how the 1996 welfare legislation affected families living in Westchester County, New York. The ethnography examines legislative processes, welfare and community activism and the lives of people who received welfare. They ranged from very poor to downwardly mobile middle-income people of different ages, races and ethnicities. In contrast to studies of the inner-city poor, my research focuses on poverty in an affluent New York suburb. Through a life cycle analysis of people's narratives, this dissertation elucidates the pressures that caused their downward economic slide, and reveals a broader array of precipitating circumstances leading to welfare.;Following decades of neoliberal policies, pro-business political tactics, and post-industrial employment transformations, such as the rise of the service sector and flexible labor practices, my research shows how the mechanics of welfare restructuring builds on extant theory positing that neoliberal political and economic practices create economic polarization and class inequity. The ethnography supports my argument that federal and state welfare policy, the flexible labor market, and a dispersed welfare bureaucracy converge and conspire to unequivocally intensify the insecurity in poor people's lives. The data also suggest that this interrelationship contributes to U.S. inequality and poverty. As the U.S. welfare state moves increasingly towards a bona fide workfare state model, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program appears to be evolving into one designed for downwardly mobile middle-income and working class workers who need temporary aid in an economic crisis. It leaves people who need continuous welfare aid further marginalized in a shrinking welfare state. |
