ABSTRACT
More than two decades ago in an American Sociological Association presidential address, Herbert Gans urged sociologists to deploy their findings in the service of more equitable, humane, and effective social policy. 1 There are choices to be made; better they should be informed by an understanding of the real dilemmas faced by the poor. 2 Toward this aim, we focus here on a problem rarely studied by social scientists: the consequences of social policies that push in opposite directions, meeting behind the closed doors of poor families.
