Who's Afraid of Frances Fox Piven?: The Essential Writings of the Professor Glenn Beck Loves to HateThe sociologist and political scientist Frances Fox Piven and her late husband Richard Cloward have been famously credited by Glenn Beck with devising the "Cloward/Piven Strategy," a world view responsible, according to Beck, for everything from creating a "culture of poverty" and fomenting "violent revolution" to causing global warming and the recent financial crisis. Called an "enemy of the people," over the past year Piven has been subjected to an unprecedented campaign of hatred and disinformation, spearheaded by Beck. How is it that a distinguished university professor, past president of the American Sociological Association, and recipient of numerous awards and accolades for her work on behalf of the poor and for American voting rights, has attracted so much negative attention? For anyone who is skeptical of the World According to Beck, here is a guide to the ideas that Glenn fears most. Who's Afraid of Frances Fox Piven? is a concise, accessible introduction to Piven's actual thinking (versus Beck's outrageous claims), from her early work on welfare rights and "poor people's movements," written with her late husband Richard Cloward, through her influential examination of American voting habits, and her most recent work on the possibilities for a new movement for progressive reform. A major corrective to right-wing bombast, this essential book is also a rich source of ideas and inspiration for anyone interested in progressive change. |
Contents
1 LowIncome People and the Political Process | 1 |
A Strategy to End Poverty | 18 |
3 Economic Collapse Mass Unemployment and the Rise of Disorder | 41 |
4 The Structuring of Protest | 67 |
5 The Welfare Rights Movement | 103 |
A Movement Strategy | 163 |
7 Does Voting Matter? | 194 |
8 The Nature of Disruptive Power | 207 |
9 Obama Needs a Protest Movement | 227 |
10 Mobilizing the Jobless | 232 |
Epilogue | 237 |
Afterword | 241 |
Permissions | 257 |
Notes | 259 |
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Who's Afraid of Frances Fox Piven?: The Essential Writings of the Professor ... Frances Fox Piven No preview available - 2011 |
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action activists activities administration agencies American Political Barack Obama benefits campaign century Charles Tilly Chicago civil rights movement Cloward coalition concessions Congress crisis defiance demands democracy Democratic party depend developed economic efforts election electoral politics eligible elites Emergency families force forms Frances Fox Piven ghetto Glenn Beck grants groups human-service workers impact income industrial influence institutional interdependent issues labor large numbers legislation low-income Lower East Side lower-class machine major mass ment million mobilization municipal Nixon nomic nonvoters NWRO NWRO’s ordinarily organizations participation percent policies political leaders poor poverty president Press programs protest movements recipients reform relief rent strikes Republican response result Richard Richard Cloward riots rise role rolls Sidney Verba simply social movements society southern strategy structure struggle tion turnout unemployed unemployment union urban violence vote voter registration welfare rights welfare system York City