"It's All One Big Circle": Welfare Discourse and the Everyday Lives of Urban Adolescents

Authors

Staci T. Lowe, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Keywords

Welfare reform, adolescents, poverty, teen mothers, welfare discourse

Abstract

Welfare reform succeeded, in part, because of discourse that characterized the poverty problem as one of long-term dependency and personal irresponsibility. Adolescent pregnancy was targeted as both cause and manifestation of a welfare crisis. This study examined how welfare reform was perceived and experienced by lowincome, urban adolescents. Findings from interviews revealed that adolescents agreed with many of the basic tenets of welfare reform, largely because they had appropriated much of the discourse prevalent in wider society. However, their complex life stories contained a powerful subtext concerning structural determinants of poverty that ran counter to prevailing notions of "personal responsibility."

Recommended Citation

Lowe, Staci T. (2008) ""It's All One Big Circle": Welfare Discourse and the Everyday Lives of Urban Adolescents," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 35: Iss. 3, Article 10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.3362
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol35/iss3/10