Second Thoughts On Welfare

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From personal experience, I believed that people on welfare were government-dependent, lazy, and complacent with the monetary aid they received. However, Second Thoughts addresses how this conventional wisdom of welfare is inaccurate, and refutes that the typical person on welfare is employed or is actively searching for a job (Second Thoughts – Essay 19, Ruane and Cerulo). Having read the essays from Second Thoughts and Both Hands Tied, I disagree with the conventional wisdom “welfare is ruining this country” and contend that “recent welfare reforms and public apathy ruins the lives of poor single mothers of dependent children by effectively trapping them in poverty.”
Because of the 1996 federal welfare reforms, poor single mothers with dependent …show more content…
These workfare jobs typically have little education requirements, have no associated honor or titles, and do not require much brainpower. Because worth is a function of occupation prestige, the public doesn’t hold these women in high regards. In addition, social stigma attached to welfare is due to the pervasive conventional wisdom that welfare recipients are lazy, government-reliant, and take a good portion of the U.S. budget.” Despite these inaccuracies, the conventional wisdom grows as a result of frustration; the growing gap between the rich and poor threatens the American Dream of working hard to live well. Eager to blame, the public uses welfare recipients as scapegoats (Second Hands – Essay 19, Ruane and Cerulo). Thus, these single mothers on welfare are considered as an out-group as their dependence on the government clashes against the public’s value of individualism. In addition, “Welfare feeds long-standing stereotypes of welfare mothers and the idle poor, making their loss more palatable to the public (Both Hands Tied, Collins and Mayer). Hence, the likelihood for needed change is …show more content…
Socioeconomic is viewed as an achieved status, which is earned or gained through personal effort (Second Hands – Essay 12, Ruane and Cerulo). Despite these poor single mother’s effort however, they cannot rise in the socioeconomic ladder. After the federal welfare reform in 1996, what the public mistakenly views as a controllable achieved status is actually an ascribed status, which is assigned without regards to a person’s effort or desires. Unfortunately, this status overshadows many of these women’s other social statuses due to low occupational prestige and social stigma associated with welfare. This master ascribed status of poverty is beyond these women’s control, yet has remarkable control over these mothers’ situation (Second Hands – Essay 19, Ruane and Cerulo). Thus, welfare hasn’t ruined the country; welfare reforms has ruined the lives of poor single mothers of dependent
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