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Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy, by Martin Gilens. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. 296 pp. $25.00 cloth. ISBN: 0-226-29364-5.
Why Americans Hate Welfare provides an indepth look at public attitudes towards poverty and "welfare," or "cash benefit programs available to able-bodied, working-age adults" (p. 13). Analyzing numerous surveys, Martin Gilens uncovers Americans' contradictory opinions about welfare. On the one hand, most support increased spending to help the poor and the welfare state in general. On the other hand, most want to reduce spending on public assistance (welfare) programs and believe that the majority of welfare recipients are taking advantage of the system.
Based on a statistical analysis of national survey data, Gilens concludes that one of the most important sources of opposition to welfare is the belief that blacks are lazy. This longstanding stereotype influences public perceptions of welfare because most Americans believe that a majority of poor people and welfare recipients are African Americans, even though they only make up 27 percent of all poor people. Gilens argues that racialized opposition to welfare is largely due to the influence of this stereotype, rather than "racial competition" over resources or a "general animosity" towards blacks. To support his...