Citation

Kershaw P, Pulkingham J, Fuller S. Soc. Polit. 2008; 15(2): 182-206.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Swedish Council for Social Research, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/sp/jxn009

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

We explore the implications of an employment-oriented vision of active citizenship for the gendered dimensions of welfare regimes, observing how this vision distracts attention from male violence against women and male neglect of childrearing which precipitate entrance onto welfare for many lone-mothers. We therefore question policy logics which presume that welfare dependency by lone-mothers reflects primarily a deficient work ethic. In place of this presumption, we argue for reconceptualizing active citizenship around norms that demand men to act differently, without recourse to individualized, patriarchal, racialized, and classist discourses that currently inform much fatherhood and family values rhetoric.