VISIONS OF POVERTY: Welfare Policy and Political Imagination

To understand completely the welfare policy debates of the last half of the 20th century, the various images of poor people that were present must be considered. “Visions of Poverty” explores these images and the policy debates of the retrenchment era, recounting the ways in which images of the poor appeared in these debates, relaying shifts in images that took place over time, and revealing how images functioned in policy debates to advantage some positions and disadvantage others. Looking to the future, “Visions of Poverty” demonstrates that any future policy agenda must first come to terms with the vivid, disabling images of the poor that continue to circulate. In debating future reforms, participants – whose ranks should include potential recipients – ought to imagine poor people anew.

This ground breaking study in policymaking and cultural imagination will be of particular interest to scholars in rhetorical studies, political science, history, and public policy.

Robert Asen is Assistant Professor in the communication Arts Department and an affiliate at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.