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 WORLD-INFOSTRUCTURE > FACT AND OPINION CONSTRUCTION(THINK TANKS) > WAR ON ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMS
  War on Anti-Poverty Programs


One of the most violent attacks undertaken by conservative U.S. think tanks has been on the federal anti-poverty programs. Beginning in the 1980s the Manhattan Institute sponsored and promoted two publications that urged the elimination of the federal anti-poverty program. "Wealth and Poverty", concluded that poverty was the result of personal irresponsibility, while "Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950 - 1980", observed that anti-poverty programs reduced marriage incentives, discouraged workers form accepting low-wage jobs, and encouraged unintended births among low income teenage and adult women.

These books were followed by Lawrence Mead's "Beyond Entitlement: The Social Obligations of Citizenship", which blamed governments for perpetuating poverty by not requiring welfare recipients to work. Other conservative grantees have used their funds for more than a decade to spread this kind of conservative political rhetoric and policy opinion through major media and conservative-controlled print and broadcast outlets. The redefinition of the problem and the demonization of the poor finally culminated in the passage of the welfare reform in 1996. The conservative anti-poor crusade not only led to cuts in federal anti-poverty spending, but also eliminated the only federal program guaranteeing cash assistance to poor women and their children.




browse Report:
Fact and opinion construction(think tanks)
    Think Tanks
 ...
-3   Media-Appearance of Think Tanks
-2   Conservative Think Tanks and the Media
-1   Influence on Policy Making by Fact Construction
0   War on Anti-Poverty Programs
+1   Abolition of Resale Price Maintenance
+2   Think Tanks and Corporate Money
+3   History of Corporate Funding of Conservative Think Tanks
     ...
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