A Whole Bunch of Combustibles: Welfare Rules and Barriers to Compliance

• In Event: 125 - Regular Session. Poverty and the Modern American Welfare State

Abstract

To investigate the impact of welfare policy on the lives of the poor, this study draws on 20 in-depth interviews with women who have been sanctioned for failure to comply with TANF program rules. The study asks why women were sanctioned and explores barriers to compliance. Findings show that it is often a combination of barriers to compliance that prevent women from following welfare rules, and that far from helping women succeed in the labor market, sanctions merely complicate already difficult lives.

Author

• Jessica Hausauer, Syracuse University