Ep. 26: The 'Welfare' Dog-Whistle
Added 2018-02-07 17:48:50 +0000 UTCThe term "welfare" is thrown around so casually in political speeches and media coverage we hardly notice it anymore. CNN reports that “GOP will tackle Medicare, Medicaid, welfare in 2018," while The Washington Post insists that “Trump recently called on Congress to move to cut welfare spending after the tax bill.” CBS News tells viewers that “Washington eyes welfare reform."
But what do these outlets and the Republican Party actually mean when they talk about "welfare"? What programs are they referring to? The exact definition of "welfare" – which supposedly ended over 20 years ago – remains unclear.
While the word "welfare" and the welfare state has a positive connotation in Europe, in the United States it's more often than not a malleable propaganda term meant to dog whistle programs for African-Americans and Latinos while signaling to whites that their checks and corporate handouts will remain untouched.
In this episode, we dig into the racist history of anti-welfare crusades, the political purpose of pathologizing poverty, and the meaninglessness of phrases like "welfare reform," with guest Sarah Jaffe.
The Guest
Sarah Jaffe is a reporting fellow at The Nation Institute and an independent journalist covering labor, economic justice, social movements, politics, gender, and pop culture. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Atlantic, The Guardian, In These Times, The Nation, Truthout, The American Prospect and many other publications. She is the co-host of Belabored, a labor podcast hosted by Dissent magazine, and the author of Necessary Trouble: Americans In Revolt.
Show Notes
How the Media Is Abetting the GOP's War on “Welfare”
Sarah Jaffe | January 31, 2018 | The New Republic
We Must Stop Framing Programs Like Medicaid in Republican Terms if We Are to Save Them
Sarah Jaffe | January 24, 2018 | Truthout
GOP’s “bad black mother” myth: Meet the modern-day “welfare queens”
Sarah Jaffe | August 6, 2014 | Salon
Trump Is Resurrecting the Myth of the Welfare Queen
Clio Chang | December 16, 2017 | Splinter News
Who Really Receives Welfare and Government Entitlements?
Nicki Lisa Cole | October 24, 2017 | ThoughtCo.
Who Gets Food Stamps? White People, Mostly
Arthur Delaney and Alissa Scheller | February 28, 2015 | Huffington Post
Federal Anti-Poverty Programs Primarily Help the GOP's Base
Ronald Brownstein | February 16, 2017 | The Atlantic
Premilla Madasen | February 9, 2016 | Jacobin
More Ohio Amazon workers relying on food aid
Zach Schiller | January 05, 2018 | Policy Matters Ohio
Rachel M. Cohen and Zaid Jilani | February 1, 2018 | The Intercept
Molly Osberg | January 31, 2018 | Splinter News
Unspeakable Realities Block Universal Health Coverage In America
Chris Ladd | March 13, 2017 | Forbes
The Rise and Reign of the Welfare Queen
Rachel Black and Aleta Sprague | September 22, 2016 | New America
Putting Marriage Back at the Center of Welfare Reform
Jason Adkins and Anne Krisnik | January 12, 2018 | National Review
Josh Levin | December 19, 2013 | Slate
References
Beyond the Melting Pot; the Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians, and Irish of New York City, by Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1963)
Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class, by Ian Haney López (2013)
The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined the War on Poverty, by Jill Quadagno (1996)
