The Welfare Industry

Takes sociological stock of American poverty and the efforts at reform in the 1960s and early 70s, focusing on urban public assistance and on efforts to improve the system -- particularly efforts that were pursued in the name of poor persons themselves.



'A well-organized but varied collection of research efforts to support the argument that two processes -- bureaucratization and professionalization -- alter poverty. The authors, eminently qualified in the sociological arena, conclude that transformation rather than elimination of poverty is the net effect of such an analysis...support for some intriguing notions with respect to professional behavior...' -- Choice, Vol 17 No 2, April 1980