{"product_id":"flat-broke-with-children-women-in-the-age-of-welfare-reform-paperback","title":"Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSharon Hays\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHailed as a great success, welfare reform resulted in a dramatic decline in the welfare rolls--from 4.4 million families in 1996 to 2 million in 2003. But what does this \"success\" look like to the welfare mothers and welfare caseworkers who experienced it? In \u003cem\u003eFlat Broke With Children\u003c\/em\u003e, Sharon Hays tells us the story of welfare reform from inside the welfare office and inside the lives of welfare mothers, describing the challenges that welfare recipients face in managing their work, their families, and the rules and regulations of welfare reform.\u003cbr\u003e Welfare reform, experienced on the ground, is not a rosy picture. The majority of adult welfare clients are \u003cem\u003emothers\u003c\/em\u003e--over 90 percent--and the time limits imposed by welfare reform throw millions of these mostly unmarried, desperate women into the labor market, where they must accept low wages, the most menial work, the poorest hours, with no benefits, and little flexibility. Hays provides a vivid portrait of their lives--debunking many of the stereotypes we have of welfare recipients--but she also steps back to explore what welfare reform reveals about the meaning of work and family life in our society. In particular, she argues that an inherent contradiction lies at the heart of welfare policy, which emphasizes traditional family values even as its ethic of \"personal responsibility\" requires women to work and leave their children in childcare or at home alone all day long. \u003cbr\u003e Hays devoted three years to visiting welfare clients and two welfare offices, one in a medium-sized town in the Southeast, another in a large, metropolitan area in the West. Drawing on this hands-on research, \u003cem\u003eFlat Broke With Children\u003c\/em\u003e is the first book to explore the impact of welfare reform on motherhood, marriage, and work in women's lives, and the first book to offer us a portrait of how welfare reform plays out in thousands of local welfare offices and in millions of homes across the nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSharon Hays\u003c\/strong\u003e is Barbra Streisand Professor in Contemporary Gender Studies and Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California. The author of \u003cem\u003eThe Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood\u003c\/em\u003e, she has been interviewed for publications such as \u003cem\u003eThe Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Parenting, Working Mother Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eU.S. News and World Report.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 304\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 7.98 x 5.36 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 14, 2004\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51765597929760,"sku":"9780195176018","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/5cf212954973c52923d8375c3fde89ec.webp?v=1780274478","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/flat-broke-with-children-women-in-the-age-of-welfare-reform-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}