If people want to pursue the history of business opposition to AFDC, one
place to start is Winifred Bell's classic book on AFDC (entitled _Aid to
Dependent Children_). A superb essay on SSI and the Southern states that
makes similar points is Jill Quadagno in Weir, Orloff and Skocpol, _The
Politics of Social Policy in the United States_ (very good book). See also
the other essays in that book.
My sense is that the Southern opposition was tied up intricately with
subordination of the black labor pool in the South -- not surprisingly, you
need to look at race and gender along with class to understand Southern
opposition to a federal AFDC benefit.
There are several essays in _Women, the State and Welfare_, edited by Linda
Gordon, that might be useful. I have one essay in there entitled "Black
Women and AFDC: Making Entitlement Out of Necessity" that reviews some of
that history.
Finally, see any of James Patterson's books (_America's Struggle against
Poverty, 1900-1985_; _Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal_; _The
New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition_). The first one has a
terrific anecdote (I think) about some bubba congressman wondering who was
going to iron his shirts if there was a federal minimum benefit.
***************
Teresa Amott
Dept. of Economics
Bucknell University
Lewisburg, PA 17837
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
717/524-1652 (w)
717/524-3760 (fax)
