ABSTRACT

If you were to ask someone in the United States what they think of the welfare program, they would likely respond by criticizing the program for its use of taxpayer money to support poor citizens. As we show in this chapter, the history of welfare is marked by race- and class-based stereotypes of welfare clients and their ambitions. The oversimplified stereotypes that have emerged across history have caricaturized “welfare queens,” presenting them as lazy, greedy, and selfish women who live lavish lives at the expense of the state. While overtly racist language has been used with less frequency in recent years, the – now colorblind – imagery and stereotypes of the welfare queen persist. The “real” experiences of mothers on welfare often involve interacting with state surveillance through government programs, struggling to balance work and family demands – especially with child care, cobbling together resources from a variety sources, and – for some – using agency to push back against the state. Through their resistance, welfare mothers work to reclaim their narrative from the history of controlling images that have pervaded their lives.