The New Paternalism

Abstract

New paternalist" welfare programs are premised on the idea that service users lack certain capacities and require "supervisory" programs to guide them toward self-sufficiency. The author argues that the use of new paternalist programs is incompatible with what she claims to be a just state's obligation to foster autonomy. This is best understood in light of a notion of paternalism as implicated in oppressive power relations rather than solely as interventionist policy. By examining workfare and pregnancy prevention programs, the author sheds light on underlying gendered assumptions about the relationship between the autonomous self and both paid employment and care work.

We Had a Good Thing Going: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Vocational ESL in the United States

“…PRWORA aimed to minimize individuals' use of welfare by replacing the Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) (Ben-Ishai, 2010). It introduced a 5-year lifetime limit on welfare receipt and imposed work activity requirements on welfare users; these work activities included paid employment, unpaid community service, work readiness training, and, in limited cases, adult or vocational education (Ben-Ishai, 2010;Tumlin & Zimmerman, 2003). While PRWORA did not prohibit states from incorporating VESL into approved work activities, a variety of measures discouraged them from doing so.…”