Journal Article

Deciding to Discipline: Race, Choice, and Punishment at the Frontlines of Welfare Reform

Schram, Sanford F., Soss, Joe, Fording, Richard C., Houser, Linda

2009

Overview

Welfare sanctions are financial penalties applied to individuals who fail to comply with welfare program rules. Their widespread use reflects a turn toward disciplinary approaches to poverty management. In this article, we investigate how implicit racial biases and discrediting social markers interact to shape officials' decisions to impose sanctions. We present experimental evidence based on hypothetical vignettes that case managers are more likely to recommend sanctions for Latina and black clients—but not white clients—when discrediting markers are present. We triangulate these findings with analyses of state administrative data. Our results for Latinas are mixed, but we find consistent evidence that the probability of a sanction rises significantly when a discrediting marker (i.e., a prior sanction for noncompliance) is attached to a black rather than a white welfare client. Overall, our study clarifies how racial minorities, especially African Americans, are more likely to be punished for deviant behavior in the new world of disciplinary welfare provision.

• Publisher: American Sociological Association,SAGE Publications,Sage Publications
• Subject: African Americans / Behavior / Black White Differences / Case management / Caseloads / Child care / Children / Client Characteristics (Human Services) / Clients / Cognitive models / Community Characteristics / Compliance / Criminal justice / Criminals / Cultures and civilizations / Design / Deviance / Economic sanctions / Ethnic groups. Acculturation. Cultural identity / Ethnic minorities / Ethnicity / Evidence / Fines & penalties / Fines and penalties / Good cause / Hispanic Americans / Hispanics / Imprisonment / Inequality / Inferences / Influence / Insurance Occupations / Justice / Latin American cultural groups / Minority & ethnic groups / Minority groups / Noncompliance / Penalties / Poverty / Probability / Public assistance programs / Punishment / Quotas / Race / Racial Attitudes / Racial bias / Racial Composition / Racial differences / Racial Factors / Racism / Reinforcement / Research Design / Sanctions / Social problems and social policy. Social work / Sociological analysis / Sociology / State Policy / Studies / Vignettes / Welfare Recipients / Welfare reform / Welfare Services / Workforce / Working conditions