A Public Transformed? Welfare Reform as Policy Feedback
This article analyzes the strategic use of public policy as a tool for reshaping public opinion. Though progressive revisionists in the 1990s argued that reforming welfare could produce a public more willing to invest in anti-poverty efforts, welfare reform in the 1990s did little to shift public opinion. This study investigates the general conditions under…
The article “The Public Transformed: Welfare Reform as Policy Feedback” examines how the 1996 U.S. welfare reform changed public attitudes toward welfare and the poor.
It finds that policy changes not only altered the material conditions of recipients but also reshaped broader public perceptions, leading to decreased support for welfare and increased stigmatization of beneficiaries.
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