Episode 26: The 'Welfare' Dog-Whistle

Citations Needed

News, Society & Culture

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2018

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The term "welfare" is thrown around so casually in political speeches and media coverage we hardly notice it anymore. CNN reports that "GOP will tackle Medicare, Medicaid, welfare in 2018," while The Washington Post insists that "Trump recently called on Congress to move to cut welfare spending after the tax bill." CBS News tells viewers that "Washington eyes welfare reform."

But what do these outlets and the Republican Party actually mean when they talk about "welfare"? What programs are they referring to? The exact definition of "welfare" – which supposedly ended over 20 years ago – remains unclear.

While the word "welfare" and the welfare state has a positive connotation in Europe, in the United States it's more often than not a malleable propaganda term meant to dog whistle programs for African-Americans and Latinos while signaling to whites that their checks and corporate handouts will remain untouched.

In this episode, we dig into the racist history of anti-welfare crusades, the political purpose of pathologizing poverty, and the meaninglessness of phrases like "welfare reform," with guest Sarah Jaffe.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Citations Needed with Nemeshirazi and Adam Johnson.
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0:15.6	I'm Adam Johnson.
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0:40.3	So we haven't touched on this in a long time.
0:42.8	You and I are, I know offline a lot are obsessed with the racialization of government spending
0:48.5	and how these words and narratives get adopted sort of brainlessly by the media.
0:56.4	And one of those words is a word that we need to dissect because now, in the past few
1:00.7	weeks, especially after the tax bill was passed, the Republicans are going after welfare.
1:08.0	Quote, quote, welfare.
1:09.5	Well, fair.
1:10.5	So welfare is under attack.
1:12.3	There's a string of articles discussing how Republicans are going after welfare.
	...

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