The Wages of Motherhood

by Gwendolyn Mink

Book Overview

Entering the vigorous debate about the nature of the American welfare state, The Wages of Motherhood illuminates ways in which a "maternalist" social policy emerged from the crucible of gender and racial politics between the world wars. Gwendolyn Mink here examines the cultural dynamics of maternalist social policy, which have often been overlooked by institutional and class analyses of the welfare state.

Mink maintains that the movement...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801422345
• ISBN13: 9780801422348
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A fascinating expose

Mink provides a history of the maternalists, a little-known group of women who created the idea of "mother's pensions", a precursor to welfare in America. The maternalists' views were similar to those of first-wave feminists in their protectionist outlook. Roosevelt and other New Dealers were sympathetic to the maternalists' goals, including that of Americanization of immigrants and their descendants. This book is an eye-opening look at the origins of welfare and how the original welfare system operated in America.