Why Americans Hate Welfare
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A01=Martin Gilens
aid
assistance
Author_Martin Gilens
bias
Category=JBCT
Category=JBFC
Category=JBSL1
Category=JKSB
class
compassion
cynicism
deserving
discrimination
economics
employment
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
government
history
individualism
labor
media
nonfiction
perception
policy
political science
politics
poverty
public opinion
race
racialization
racism
self-interest
social services
sociology
stereotypes
wealth gap
welfare
working poor
Product details
- ISBN 9780226293653
- Weight: 510g
- Dimensions: 17 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 01 Oct 2000
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Drawing on surveys of public attitudes and analyses of more than 40 years of television and newsmagazine stories on poverty, this book demonstrates how public opposition to welfare is fed by a potent combination of racial stereotypes and misinformation about the true nature of America's poor. But the answer isn't simply that white Americans oppose welfare because they think it benefits blacks; rather, they think it benefits "undeserving" blacks who would rather live off the government than work, a perception powerfully fuelled by the media's negative coverage of the black poor. Martin Gilens not only examines public opinion and public policy; he also explores the historical context that shaped these attitudes and the role the news media have played in "racializing" poverty and poverty programmes. The public's views on welfare, Gilens shows, are a complex mixture of cynicism and compassion; misinformed and racially charged, they nevertheless reflect both a distrust of welfare recipients and a desire to do more to help the deserving poor.
