IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v629y2010i1p173-197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond Deservingness: Congressional Discourse on Poverty, 1964—1996

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua Guetzkow

    (University of Arizona)

Abstract

Much of the research explaining the generosity of antipoverty programs has focused on the perceived deservingness of the poor. While the notion of deservingness is useful in explaining the scope and general outlines of policy, it does not help us understand the development and change of the specific policy instruments that constitute antipoverty policies. The author argues that to better understand the development of antipoverty policy tools aimed at changing the behavior of the poor, we need to analyze how policy elites frame both the causes of poverty and the nature of the poor. He illustrates the utility of this approach by analyzing congressional antipoverty discourse in two periods, comparing the “Great Society†period of 1964 to 1968 and the “neoliberal†era of 1981 to 1996, and shows how policymakers’ frames about the causes of poverty and about the capacities and desires of the poor shaped the specific antipoverty policies adopted in each period.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua Guetzkow, 2010. "Beyond Deservingness: Congressional Discourse on Poverty, 1964—1996," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 629(1), pages 173-197, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:629:y:2010:i:1:p:173-197
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716209357404
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716209357404
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716209357404?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schneider, Anne & Ingram, Helen, 1993. "Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 334-347, June.
    2. Papadakis, Elim & Bean, Clive, 1993. "Popular Support for the Welfare State: A Comparison Between Institutional Regimes," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 227-254, July.
    3. Douglas S. Massey & Robert J. Sampson, 2009. "Moynihan Redux: Legacies and Lessons," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 621(1), pages 6-27, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maddison, Jonathan & Watts, Richard, 2011. "The technological fix as a frame in media debates about tailpipe emissions," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 294-303.
    2. Fritz Sager & Yvan Rielle, 2013. "Sorting through the garbage can: under what conditions do governments adopt policy programs?," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 46(1), pages 1-21, March.
    3. Frank R. Baumgartner & Christine Mahoney, 2008. "Forum Section: The Two Faces of Framing," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(3), pages 435-449, September.
    4. Yao Zhu & Shousheng Chai & Jieqi Chen & Ian Phau, 2024. "How was rural tourism developed in China? Examining the impact of China’s evolving rural tourism policies," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 28945-28969, November.
    5. Daniel Béland & Alex Jingwei He & M Ramesh, 2022. "COVID-19, crisis responses, and public policies: from the persistence of inequalities to the importance of policy design [The impact of COVID-19 on gender equality]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 41(2), pages 187-198.
    6. Matt Guardino & Suzanne Mettler, 2020. "Revealing the “Hidden welfare state†: How policy information influences public attitudes about tax expenditures," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 3(1).
    7. Christopher Weible & David Carter, 2015. "The composition of policy change: comparing Colorado’s 1977 and 2006 smoking bans," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 48(2), pages 207-231, June.
    8. Lorenz Kammermann & Karin Ingold, 2019. "Going beyond technocratic and democratic principles: stakeholder acceptance of instruments in Swiss energy policy," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 52(1), pages 43-65, March.
    9. Gevers, J.M.P. & Gelissen, J.P.T.M. & Arts, W.A. & Muffels, R.J.A., 1999. "Public health care in balance : Exploring popular support for health care systems in the European Union," WORC Paper 99.12.04, Tilburg University, Work and Organization Research Centre.
    10. Clare Daniel & Anna Mahoney & Grace Riley, 2024. "The Politics of Problem Definition: Abortion Policy in Republican-Controlled Louisiana," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-15, July.
    11. Neal D. Woods, 2021. "The State of State Environmental Policy Research: A Thirty‐Year Progress Report," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 38(3), pages 347-369, May.
    12. Rodney E. Hero, 2002. "Language policy and identity politics in the United States," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 151-153.
    13. Cousins, Linwood H., 2013. "Deservingness, children in poverty, and collective well being," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1252-1259.
    14. Vicinanza, Paul & Goldberg, Amir & Srivastava, Sameer, 2021. "Quantifying Vision through Language Demonstrates that Visionary Ideas Come from the Periphery," OSF Preprints 3h8xp, Center for Open Science.
    15. Anthony Perl & Michael Howlett & M. Ramesh, 2018. "Policy-making and truthiness: Can existing policy models cope with politicized evidence and willful ignorance in a “post-fact” world?," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 51(4), pages 581-600, December.
    16. Carol A. Heimer & Elsinore Kuo, 2021. "Subterranean successes: Durable regulation and regulatory endowments," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 63-82, November.
    17. Momi Dahan, 2023. "Social Construction And The Progressivity Of Local Tax Relief," Israel Economic Review, Bank of Israel, vol. 21(1), pages 1-33, March.
    18. Christopher A. Simon & Michael C. Moltz, 2019. "Immigrant Citizens and Racial Resentment in International Policy Perspective: The Role of Nativity and Racial Resentment in Shaping Support for US Foreign Assistance Expenditure, 2002–2016," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 62(1), pages 186-195, December.
    19. Jora Broerse, 2019. "“How Do We Put Him in the System?”: Client Construction at a Sport-Based Migrant Settlement Service in Melbourne, Australia," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 238-247.
    20. Matinga, Margaret Njirambo & Clancy, Joy S. & Annegarn, Harold J., 2014. "Explaining the non-implementation of health-improving policies related to solid fuels use in South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 53-59.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:629:y:2010:i:1:p:173-197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.