Three Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal

by Cybelle Fox

Overview

Three Worlds of Relief examines the role of race and immigration in the development of the American social welfare system by comparing how blacks, Mexicans, and European immigrants were treated by welfare policies during the Progressive Era and the New Deal. Taking readers from the turn of the twentieth century to the dark days of the Depression, Cybelle Fox finds that, despite rampant nativism, European immigrants received generous access to social welfare programs. The communities in which they lived invested heavily in relief. Social workers protected them from snooping immigration agents, and ensured that noncitizenship and illegal status did not prevent them from receiving the assistance they needed. But that same helping hand was not extended to Mexicans and blacks. Fox reveals, for example, how blacks were relegated to racist and degrading public assistance programs, while Mexicans who asked for assistance were deported with the help of the very social workers they turned to for aid.


Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence, Fox paints a riveting portrait of how race, labor, and politics combined to create three starkly different worlds of relief. She debunks the myth that white America's immigrant ancestors pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, unlike immigrants and minorities today. Three Worlds of Relief challenges us to reconsider not only the historical record but also the implications of our past on contemporary debates about race, immigration, and the American welfare state.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691152240
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	04/29/2012
Series:	Princeton Studies in American Politics , #130
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Cybelle Fox is assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the coauthor of Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Abbreviations xi

Chapter 1: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State 1

Chapter 2: Three Worlds of Race, Labor, and Politics 19

Chapter 3: Three Worlds of Relief 52

Chapter 4: The Mexican Dependency Problem 73

Chapter 5: No Beggar Spirit 95

Chapter 6: Deporting the Unwelcome Visitors 124

Chapter 7: Repatriating the Unassimilable Aliens 156

Chapter 8: A Fair Deal or a Raw Deal? 188

Chapter 9: The WPA and the (Short-Lived) Triumph of Nativism 214

Chapter 10: A New Deal for the Alien 250

Chapter 11: The Boundaries of Social Citizenship 281

Abbreviations in the Notes 295

Notes 299

Index 371

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Three Worlds of Relief is theoretically important, empirically rich, and a major contribution to scholarship on race, immigration, and welfare policy. Fox brings together the experiences of Mexicans, white immigrants, and African Americans into a single account, in the process enriching current knowledge of each group's history in the United States and illuminating how these histories fed into government policy. Three Worlds of Relief is an outstanding work of scholarship. Fox traces the distinct paths of blacks, Mexicans, and white immigrants as they were incorporated into the American welfare state in the key decades culminating in the New Deal. Her argument is fresh and original, her research meticulous, and her prose elegant. Three Worlds of Relief is an intellectual tour de force that sets a new scholarly agenda"—Desmond King, author of Separate and Unequal: African Americans and the U.S. Federal Government

"Cybelle Fox's Three Worlds of Relief demonstrates that U.S. social policies in their formative years provided disparate treatment by race and ethnicity. Political, labor-market, and racial contexts advantaged European immigrants and disadvantaged African Americans and Mexican immigrants. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the origins of the uneven U.S. welfare state, its race and ethnic politics, and political dilemmas today."—Edwin Amenta, University of California, Irvine

"Three Worlds of Relief is an original study that significantly enhances our understanding of the historical boundaries of social citizenship in the United States. Cybelle Fox reveals how different political systems and race and labor market relations in three separate regions of the country resulted in profoundly dissimilar experiences for blacks, Mexicans, and European immigrants in the American welfare system. This insightful book is a must-read."—William Julius Wilson, Harvard University

"Three Worlds of Relief is a tour de force of historical analysis that presents a bold reinterpretation of U.S. welfare provision during the early decades of the twentieth century. I know of no work that offers a more compelling account of how poor relief in this era was shaped by the interplay of race, immigration, and political economy. Emphasizing regional differences across a decentralized system, Cybelle Fox challenges longstanding assumptions in U.S. welfare scholarship. Her study is a major contribution to the field."—Joe Soss, University of Minnesota

"Rigorously researched, clearly argued, and written with verve and style, Three Worlds of Relief is a pathbreaking study of the interplay of race, labor, and politics in the building of America's welfare state. Fox brings a fresh and important new perspective to the study of American political development that could not be more timely. This is an excellent book."—Robert C. Lieberman, author of Shaping Race Policy

Editorial Reviews

"Thoroughly researched and well written, the book enhances the literature on immigration and ethnicity."

Choice

"Co-Winner of the 2014 Barrington Moore Book Award, Comparative and Historical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association"

"Winner of the 2013 Distinguished Book Award, Latina/o Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association"

"Winner of the 2013 Thomas and Znaniecki Best Book Award, International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association"

"Co-Winner of the 2013 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award, Political Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association"

"Winner of the 2012 Award for Best Book in Latino Politics, Latino Caucus of the American Political Science Association"

Winner of the 2012 C. Wright Mills Award, Society for the Study of Social Problems

From the Publisher

Three Worlds of Relief covers new territory in social welfare history and will interest academics and students in the field. Of particular importance to the social work profession is the author's attention to the role that social workers played in advocating both for progressive legislation and practice, except in the West and Southwest.

Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare - Marguerite G. Rosenthal