Social Capital and Welfare Reform : Organizations, Congregations, and Communities

In this groundbreaking study, Jo Anne Schneider considers the reasons behind the limited success of most welfare-reform initiatives and offers evidence-based recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of welfare policy. Schneider draws on her rich and nuanced ethnographic studies of Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, to clarify the role of social capital for both individuals and institutions. She shows that the social relationships and patterns of trust that enable people to gain access to resources like government services, organization funding, and jobs are crucial in helping families achieve their goals. "Social Capital and Welfare Reform" is compulsory reading for researchers and students in social work, sociology, anthropology, public policy, community psychology, and social psychiatry and for nonprofit and public administration and policymakers.