mixing of economics and morality has historically often led to dubious social results. Nowhere has this bastardization of ethics with finance been more apparent than in the history of attempts at the reform of public assistance programs. To date the construction of a more streamlined and just welfare program has not occurred. Senator Long's highly visible and signficant attempts to alter the American conception of welfare were almost instantly rebuked. Detractors of his campaign claimed that his singling out absentee fathers was both unfair and wasteful. Public opinion would not accept that collection of these payments could be handled in a cost-effective or realistic manner (Cottingham, 1989, p. 220).
Recently, cultural critics have begun to speak of the "feminization of the poor" (Long, 1989, p. 14). Sociologists have discovered that long-term recipients of welfare most often include high-school dropouts, nonwhites, unwed mothers, mothers with many children and women who before going on AFDC had previously never earned any income (Long, 1989, p. 14). The radical shift away from two-parent families emerged in the late 60s, flourished in the 70s, and by the early 80s had reached unprecedented levels (Cottingham, 1989, p. 219). Contingent with the breakdrown of traditional family and community structures, many of the poor realized that "a mother and father living separately could do better financially" (Berkowitz, 1988, p. 204). Repeatedly, scrutiny of the management of the public welfare system suggests that contradictions and loopholes within the current system function as impediments to altering and streamlining its efficiency.
Yet careful analysis of the welfare system, including an in-depth critique of its genesis even as it is juxtaposed to more recent attempts to reform national programs of public assistance, indicate that welfare stands at the crossroads of cultural angst while it continually showcases ...