Women and Poverty provides a social psychological analysis of social class and classism, particularly in relation to women's poverty. The book offers a critical analysis of the social and structural factors that contribute to poverty among women, class-based power relations, and the sociocultural beliefs that legitimize economic injustice. Core questions include: How do diverse socioeconomic groups perceive social class and prospects for upward mobility? How do low-income women view interclass relations, economic inequality, and the welfare system? How are poverty, and class privilege and disadvantage explained and understood? How do sexist, racist, and classist attitudes and beliefs contribute to the hardships low-income women confront? How are these beliefs related to current welfare and other social and economic policies? What structural, social, and cultural changes would reduce poverty?

To address these questions, Women and Poverty brings together research and theory from social psychology, policy studies, and critical and feminist scholarship. The synthesis and application of these perspectives to women's poverty is one of the key features of this book, providing readers with a multifaceted appreciation of the underlying causes of poverty and the policies that promote economic justice. Positioning classism as a pervasive source of inequity, women's experiences of poverty and class-based discrimination are examined at the individual, intergroup, and institutional levels.

About the Author ix

1 Women and Poverty: An Ongoing Crisis 1

2 Structural Sources of Women's Poverty and Homelessness 16

3 Beliefs about Poverty, Wealth, and Social Class: Implications for Intergroup Relations and Social Policy 40

4 Welfare Reform at 15 and Beyond: How Are Low-Income Women and Families Faring? 70

5 Low-Income Women, Critical Resistance, and Welfare Rights Activism 104
Co-authored with Wendy M. Limbert and Roberta A. Downing

6 Women and Economic Justice: Pitfalls, Possibilities, and Promise 140

References 159

Index 192

Heather E. Bullock, PhD, is professor and chair of the Psychology Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), USA, and served as director of UCSC's Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community. She studies the social psychological causes and consequences of economic injustice, with special attention to poverty among women. Much of her research focuses on identifying the attitudes and beliefs that predict support for anti-poverty policies, and the impact of framing on policy preferences. Before joining the UCSC faculty, she served as an APA Congressional Fellow with the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions - Democratic Office.