Pitied but Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare [Hardcover]

Linda Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 14, 1994

When Americans denounce "welfare", most are thinking of the program of aid for single mothers and their children--the only program of the Social Security Act to become stigmatized. Gordon uncovers the tangled roots of competing visions of welfare and shows that welfare reform can only work if it recognizes that single motherhood is an enduring aspect of contemporary life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Claiming in this cogent, timely study that the Social Security Act of 1935 has failed "to protect its citizens from the cruelties of capitalism," Gordon (Woman's Body, Woman's Right) concerns herself here with the increasing number of minority, stigmatized, single mothers inadequately covered by the Aid to Dependent Children. The ADC, a stepchild, she alleges, of the Act's provisions, resulted in "stratification of programs" which "deepened the already existing social inequalities." This stratification was further exacerbated by low wages for women, creating an underclass of the "hopelessly poor." Welfare reform, Gordon suggests, must address the needs of both children and mothers, offering income support for single parents, while also helping mothers make the transition to becoming "workers supported by wages" and by day care, adequate parental leave policies and medical insurance. Gordon is a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this book, Gordon (Women's Body, Women's Right: The History of Birth Control in America, LJ 12/1/76) traces the development of the federal welfare system. Beginning at the early part of this century, she follows events leading up to the Social Security Act of 1935. In so doing she provides fascinating glimpses of the early welfare reform leaders and how their different backgrounds, beliefs, and alliances resulted in a stratified system of public aid in which some recipients are provided with the widely accepted social insurance benefits labeled entitlements while others are given public assistance and looked upon as "welfare" recipients. With a clearer understanding of how and why our welfare system has evolved as it has, Gordon suggests that the time has come to revamp this system to align it with the needs of today more closely. Her book is thoroughly researched, well written, and persuasive in its presentation. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.
Robert Logsdon, Indiana State Lib., Indianapolis
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 433 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1ST edition (September 14, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029124859
• ISBN-13: 978-0029124857
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,288,592 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Linda Gordon is the Florence Kelley Professor of History at New York University. She is the author of numerous books including Dorothea Lange and Impounded, and won the Bancroft Prize for The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction. She lives in New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars the beginnings of American welfare, September 16, 2004

By 

Sage Ross "Sage Ross" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pitied but Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare 1890-1935 (Paperback)

Gordon weaves a cohesive tale about the origins of our modern welfare state, beginning with the reform-minded settlement house women and their work to represent and help the single mother. Maternalism, Gordon argues, is a concept central to their work, and the concept remains today in the "welfare" (needs-based) portion of welfare (as opposed to the parts we think of as entitlements, like social security pensions for the retired and public education). Maternalism is the idea that we (society) have an obligation, like a mother to needy, to lift the underclass out of their moral, as well as financial and physical, problems. This brought the ideas of "means-testing" and "morals-testing" as conditions for financial aid to welfare recipients, and despite the good intentions, has led to the further stigmatization of welfare recipients.

This book omits many of the connections between the social work of the central characters and other social movements going on at the time (i.e., birth control, eugenics, health and sanitation reform), but such focus pays off, making the book somewhat relevant to modern discussions of welfare and welfare reform. Gordon also has a slightly unconventional writing style, with long paragraphs and extended arguments, which makes the book very difficult to skim.