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Over the last three decades, welfare policies have been informed by popular beliefs that welfare fraud is rampant. As a result, welfare policies have become more punitive and the boundaries between the welfare system and the criminal justice system have blurred—so much so that in some locales prosecution caseloads for welfare fraud exceed welfare caseloads. In reality, some recipients manipulate the welfare system for their own ends, others are gravely hurt by punitive policies, and still others fall somewhere in between. This book endeavors to clear up these gray areas by providing insights into the history, social construction, and lived experience of welfare. It shows why welfare cheating is all but inevitable—not because poor people are immoral, but because ordinary individuals navigating complex systems of rules are likely to become entangled despite their best efforts. Through an examination of the construction of the crime we know as welfare fraud, the book challenges readers to question their assumptions about welfare policies, welfare recipients, and crime control in the United States.

Masculinity at Work is a theoretical disposition and a practical guide for lawyers and judges on the interpretation of sex and race discrimination cases. It argues that fact finders should consider social science research about masculinity when determining whether an employer has engaged in illegal discrimination in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The book educates the reader about the invisibility of masculine structures and practices, how society constructs concepts of masculinity, and how men (and sometimes women) perform masculinity in different ways depending on their identities and the context of their situations. The book features the story, among others, of Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito of the Miami Dolphins to illustrate how harassing behavior can occur because of sex even though the gendered nature of the harassment is invisible to onlookers. After more than a year of ongoing harassment on the Miami Dolphins, Jonathan Martin left the team and checked himself into a mental health institution. The book explains the difficulties Martin would have suing the Dolphins under Title VII because of the hidden gendered behaviors. It encourages lawyers representing plaintiffs in sex and race discrimination suits to use experts in masculinities to educate both judges and juries. It criticizes the courts’ and juries’ undue reliance on their common sense to interpret behaviors alleged to have occurred because of sex and demonstrates through vivid, real-life examples how masculinities studies can offer a more accurate interpretation of the behaviors of employers and employees in workforces.