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.
The first one has a
terrific anecdote
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
Polit
