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and whites, while other findings concerning racial disparities can be read as suggesting
they are. I note how some findings are open to multiple interpretations. After considering
the relationship of the various findings to different interpretations, a concluding
discussion suggests ways of talking about the issue that can inform effective responses to
the relationships of race and welfare reform today.
First, I provide some background on contemporary welfare reform. This is
followed by an overview that places the issue of the relationship of race and welfare in
historical perspective. Next, I discuss the competing analytical perspectives for
discussing the issue of race and welfare reform, focusing on the differences between the
“old” and “new” racism and how these suggest different possible interpretations of data
findings about racial disparities under welfare reform. Then I examine different types of
data regarding race and welfare reform, noting relevant interpretive perspectives and how
they suggest possible responses. I start by examining base line statistics regarding race,
poverty and welfare. I then examine changes in the racial composition of welfare
population under welfare reform. This is followed by a review of findings on what
happens to recipients when they leave welfare. I then review the research on
discriminatory practices in the administration of welfare reform. Next, I look at variations
in state welfare reform policies that are correlated with race and ethnicity. Finally, I
review the effects of welfare reform on immigrants, who are disproportionately nonwhite.
This review indicates that some of the data on racial disparities under welfare
reform lend themselves to interpretations suggesting that these differences are benign
outcomes of public policies that are not racially motivated and cannot be used to sustain
charges that welfare reform is discriminatory or racist. Other data lend themselves more
Convention