On Being

The problems with this debate are several. First, it is, in practice, impossible to distinguish with any accuracy who is "deserving" from who is "undeserving." If one tries to make this separation through governmental rules and regulations, one quickly discovers that the causes of poverty are complex and sometimes subtle and that the decidedly difficult-to-determine psychological state of a person heavily influences the state of "deservingness." (A person who on paper looks simply lazy and unwilling to work, for instance, may on closer examination be quite clearly mentally incapable of performing any useful work.) But if one tries to make this distinction locally through one-on-one determinations, one discovers that local prejudices weigh too heavily for the process to be considered just.

Second, the debate substantially ignores the structural causes of poverty considered here.

Third, in part because of the difficulty of separating deserving from undeserving poor, any regulations and policies designed to weed out the "undeserving poor" will also make life miserable for those who "deserve" assistance. In order that contemporary welfare not be too "attractive," for example, benefits are so low (average AFDC payments were $300 a month) that no one could survive on them.

As might be expected, the definition of who is deserving changes over time. Not so long ago, for instance, poor single mothers with young children were considered "deserving" while we now consider most young welfare mothers "undeserving" of on-going assistance.


The New Deal
"Modern" American welfare began in the 1930s under President Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal. During the Great Depression, millions of middle-class families were thrown suddenly into poverty. "The poor" had become "us." Attitudes toward welfare, of course, changed quickly, and there was great demand for Federal assistance to those suffering from poverty. Roosevelt quickly created the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), which gave out approximately $18 billion in relief over its history from 1933 to 1936.

Roosevelt also created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as ways of providing work to the unemployed, work ranging from building the Tennessee Valley Authority dams (CCC) to creating photo exhibitions of the dustbowl (WPA).