The Price of Progressive Politics: The Welfare Rights Movement in an Era of Colorblind Racism
Rose Ernst
Abstract
Through the voices of women activists in the welfare rights movement across the United States, this book exposes the contemporary reality of welfare rights politics, revealing how the language of colorblind racism undermines this multiracial movement. Through in-depth interviews with activists in eight organizations across the United States, the book presents an intersectional analysis of how these activists understand the complexities of race, class and gender and how such understandings have affected their approach to their grassroots work. It offers a refreshing examination of how those wor ... More
Through the voices of women activists in the welfare rights movement across the United States, this book exposes the contemporary reality of welfare rights politics, revealing how the language of colorblind racism undermines this multiracial movement. Through in-depth interviews with activists in eight organizations across the United States, the book presents an intersectional analysis of how these activists understand the complexities of race, class and gender and how such understandings have affected their approach to their grassroots work. It offers a refreshing examination of how those working for change grapple with shifting racial dynamics in the United States, arguing that organizations that fail to develop a consciousness that reflects the reality of multiple marginalized identities ultimately reproduce the societal dynamics they seek to change.
Keywords:
women activists,
welfare rights movement,
multiracial movement,
racism,
racial dynamics
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780814722480 |
Published to NYU Press Scholarship Online: March 2016 |
DOI:10.18574/nyu/9780814722480.001.0001 |