Backlash against Welfare Mothers: Past and Present

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments xi This book began as a dissertation focusing on the 1950s welfare backlash, which I wrote while a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles. The chair of my dissertation committee, Ruth Milkman, generously supported my research, and her insistence on the connections between labor and welfare politics helped to shape it. Other members of my dissertation committee, Michael Mann, Rebecca Emigh, Joel Handler, and Vilma Ortiz, also provided invaluable feedback on my dissertation, as did my dissertation support group, Susan Markens, Eva Fodor, Manali Desai, and Julie Press. Susan Markens and Joel Handler read subsequent drafts of the book, providing critical feedback and support in later years. My editor at the University of California Press, Naomi Schneider, and my reviewers at the Press, Fred Block and Jamie Peck, challenged me to examine the present period of welfare politics in more depth and make it more central to the book.This task sometimes seemed daunting, but I believe this book has more to say as a result of their advice. Thoughtful feedback from these reviewers, David A. Smith, and Elizabeth Berg improved the manuscript considerably. As I transformed my dissertation into a book, I was warmly supported by colleagues at my first two jobs, at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and California State University at San Bernardino, as well as my current position at the University of California, Riverside. Many scholars, both at these institutions and outside of them, read and commented on various parts of my book, providing invaluable feedback and support. These include Edna Bonacich, Scott Coltrane, Gary Dymski, Tracy Fisher, Joya Misra, Felicia Kornbluh,Clarence Lo,Peter M.Hall,Masako Ishii-Kuntz,Kenneth Neubeck, Ann Orloff, Karen Pyke, Tom Reifer, and Marguerite Waller. Edna Bonacich and Scott Coltrane provided considerable advice and support on the project. My participation in the welfare rights movement in Los Angeles began in 1998 and eventually grew into a multi-state research project on political struggles over welfare reform.Though not my original intention, insights I gained from this movement eventually made their way into this book, especially chapter 1. I am very grateful to all the activists who welcomed me into their world, answered my questions, and spoke at protest events and public hearings. I learned a great deal from them. In many great conversations, Nancy Berlin, Bob Erlenbusch, Shawn Goldsmith, John Jackson, Dennis Kao, Alicia Lepe, Abdullah Mohammed, Matt Sharp, Frank Tamborello, and Amy Schur kept me informed on welfare issues. While I was teaching, a number of students, who had experienced welfare reform as recipients or case managers, shared their personal stories with me. They helped open my eyes and inspired me to write. I am particularly grateful to my husband, Ernest Savage, for providing feedback on many of the ideas contained in this book and generously sharing his own research on welfare issues for his documentary film The Price of Poverty and news reports for KPFK. He also provided loving support during both the high and the low points of writing this book, as well as my moves in and out of four different universities. My family and many other friends, colleagues, and housemates were important sources of support, advice, and feedback at various stages of this project. These include Aldaberto Aguirre Jr.,Terri Anderson, Eileen Boris, Linda Brewster-Stearns, Chris Chase Dunn, Piya Chatterjee, Amy Denison, Alan Emery, Manali Desai, G. William Domhoff, Gabriella Fried, Christine Gailey, Bill Gallegos, John Galliher, Elham Gheytanchi, Mary Grigsby, Pat Gowens, Joan Hermsen, Jennifer Jordan, John Krinsky, Eric Magnuson, David S. Meyer, Mike Miller, Mary Jo Neitz, Francesca Palik, Frances Fox Piven, Eyal Rabinovitch, Cynthia Reed, Dylan Riley, Connie Santos, Michele Sartell, Jacob Savin, Sara Shostak, Max Stevens, Aaron Thomas, Delores Trevizo, Jonathan Turner, Zulema Valdez, Nicholas Wolfinger, Dianne Wright, and Maurice Zeitlin. Finally, I wish to thank Erin Ladd, Shoon Lio, Acela Ojeda, Katrina Paxton, Elvia Ramirez, and Fannie Siu for their research assistance. I owe special thanks to Shoon Lio, who provided the most assistance for this project and often went beyond his assigned duties. Conversations with Elvia Ramirez, Shoon Lio, and Acela Ojeda and articles they gave me helped shape my ideas for this book. My research would not have been possible without the skills and generosity of many librarians and archivists. I am grateful to the UCLA Center for the Study of Women, UCLA Department of Sociology, UCR Division of the Academic Senate, UCR Center for Ideas and xii / Acknowledgments [3.12.41.106...