Welfare Reform and Racial Policy Regimes in the American State

Book excerpt: Scholars have known for decades that welfare in America entails a fair amount of racial bias. Recent research suggests that the welfare reforms in the 1990s with their emphasis on work and the granting of more authority to the states may well have made matters worse. Our analysis seeks to add to the larger understanding of how race and politics interact in the new system of welfare. Our findings suggest that race conditions not only the content but also the politics of welfare reform.