Cheating Welfare: Public Assistance and the Criminalization of Poverty

Contents

| vii Contents Acknowledgments ix List of Abbreviations xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Reconstructing Social Ills: 17 From the Perils of Poverty to Welfare Dependency 3 The Criminalization of Poverty 51 4 A Glimpse at the Interviewees 71 5 Living within and without the Rules 93 6 Engaging with Rules and Negotiating Compliance 118 7 Contextualizing Criminality, Noncompliance, and Resistance 155 8 Cheating Ourselves 181 Appendix A: Critical Methodology 189 Appendix B: Interview Schedule 203 Works Cited 209 Index 221 About the Author 227 This page intentionally left blank ...