Difference between revisions of "Richard A. Cloward"

Revision as of 09:20, 21 July 2009

Richard Cloward...

Richard Cloward was a sociologist and socialist. He was the author with his wife Frances Fox Piven of the Cloward-Piven Strategy for revolutionary social change. The strategy was designed to so over-burden the state with obligations to welfare recipients that revolutionary crisis and change would become inevitable. Later he applied similar priciples to voter registration-working to increase the proportion of low income voters, in order to change social structures.

He was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures on the US and international left in the 20th century.

Cloward died in his Manhattan home in August 2001 age 74.

Career and early activism

Richard Cloward held a PhD in sociology and was a former student of Robert Merton.

He co-authored nine books, including "Delinquency and Opportunity" (1960), written with Lloyd Ohlinand focusing on problems related to gangs. This book received the Dennis Carroll Award and influenced the formation of Mobilization for Youth (MFY), which Cloward helped found in 1961. MFY became the programmatic model for the federal War on Poverty and pioneered community action programs and the anti-poverty legal services.

Social change through welfare crisis

Cloward pioneered the deliberate attempt to^[1]of expand welfare rolls to push state services to the point of collapse. His first vehicle for such tactics was the National Welfare Rights Organization, an ancestor of today's ACORN and similar organizations.

In 1966, Richard helped found the National Welfare Rights Organization, the protest movement of poor women. Its goal of winning federalization of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) by building the local welfare rolls to create fiscal and political crisis very nearly succeeded. Instead, Congress granted fiscal relief to states and localities through a new federal relief program called Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSI was one of the most important federal social policy innovations in the post-World War II period.

In 1971, Cloward, along with his wife and collaborator, Dr. Frances Fox Piven, co-authored "Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare".

"This is a landmark critique of government’s use of public welfare to suppress social disorder among the poor and to reinforce the low wage work market".

Among their other landmark works, Cloward and Piven wrote "The Politics of Turmoil" (1974), Poor People’s Movements" (1977), "The New Class War" (1982), "Why American’s Don’t Vote", (1988) and "The Breaking of the American Social Compact" (1997).

Social change through expanded voter rolls

In 1982, Cloward and Piven founded the Human SERVE (Human Service Employees Registration and Voter Education Campaign, which promoted the idea that people should be registered to vote when they apply for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, unemployment benefits and driver’s licenses.

A decade later, Human Serve’s program was incorporated in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Popularly known as the “motor voter” bill, it became law in 1993.

"This legislation represents an historic advance in the struggle to win full enfranchisement for low-income people and people of color".

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had stopped government from preventing people from registering to vote. The 1993 act went further by embodying the principle that government has an affirmative obligation to register the eligible electorate.

Socialist Memorial

On Sept. 20, 2001 500 people gathered at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City to celebrate Cloward’s Life and Work. Speakers included Frances Fox Piven, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Gus Newport-(all members of Democratic Socialists of America), activists Howard Zinn, June Jordan, Joel Rogers and Tim Sampson plus long time voter registration advocate, Demos president, Miles Rappaport.

References

<references</ref>

↑ http://www.dsausa.org/dl/DLFall2001.pdft

[1] ttp://www.dsausa.org/dl/DLFall2001.pdft

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 '''Richard Cloward'''...
-Richard Cloward was a sociologist and socialist. He was the author with his wife [[Frances Fox Piven]] of the [[Cloward-Piven Strategy]] for revolutionary social change.
+Richard Cloward was a sociologist and socialist. He was the author with his wife [[Frances Fox Piven]] of the [[Cloward-Piven Strategy]] for revolutionary social change. The strategy was designed to so over-burden the state with obligations to welfare recipients that revolutionary crisis and change would become inevitable. Later he applied similar priciples to voter registration-working to increase the proportion of low income voters, in order to change social structures.
-He died in his manhattan home in August 2001 age 74.
+He was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures on the US and international left in the 20th century.
+Cloward died in his Manhattan home in August 2001 age 74.
 ==Career and early activism==
-Richard Cloward held a PhD in sociology and was a former student of Robert Merton.
+Richard Cloward held a PhD in sociology and was a former student of [[Robert Merton]].
 He co-authored nine books, including "Delinquency and Opportunity" (1960), written with [[Lloyd Ohlin]]and focusing on problems related to gangs. This book received the [[Dennis Carroll Award]] and influenced the formation of [[Mobilization for Youth]] (MFY), which Cloward helped found in 1961. MFY became the programmatic model for the federal [[War on Poverty]] and pioneered community action programs and the anti-poverty legal services.
-==Social change through crisis==
+==Social change through welfare crisis==
 Cloward pioneered the deliberate attempt to<ref>http://www.dsausa.org/dl/DLFall2001.pdft</ref>of expand welfare rolls to push state services to the point of collapse. His first vehicle for such tactics was the [[National Welfare Rights Organization]], an ancestor of today's [[ACORN]] and similar organizations.
@@ Line 17: / Line 19: @@
 :''In 1966, Richard helped found the National Welfare Rights Organization, the protest movement of poor women. Its goal of winning federalization of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) by building the local welfare rolls to create fiscal and political crisis very nearly succeeded. Instead, Congress granted fiscal relief to states and localities through a new federal relief program called Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSI was one of the most important federal social policy innovations in the post-World War II period.''
+In 1971, Cloward, along with his wife and collaborator, Dr. [[Frances Fox Piven]], co-authored "Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare".
+"''This is a landmark critique of government’s use of public welfare to suppress social disorder among the poor and to reinforce the low wage work market''".
+Among their other landmark works, Cloward and Piven wrote "The Politics of Turmoil" (1974), Poor People’s Movements" (1977), "The New Class War" (1982), "Why American’s Don’t Vote", (1988) and "The Breaking of the American Social Compact" (1997).
+==Social change through expanded voter rolls==
+In 1982, Cloward and Piven founded the [[Human SERVE]] (Human Service Employees Registration and Voter Education Campaign, which promoted the idea that people should be registered to vote when they apply for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, unemployment benefits and driver’s licenses.
+A decade later, Human Serve’s program was incorporated in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Popularly known as the “motor voter” bill, it became law in 1993.
+"''This legislation represents an historic advance in the struggle to win full enfranchisement for low-income people and people of color''".
+The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had stopped government from preventing people from registering to vote. The 1993 act went further by embodying the principle that government has an affirmative obligation to register the eligible electorate.
+==Socialist Memorial==
-In 1966, Cloward helped found the [[National Welfare Rights Organization]], with the goal of winning federalization of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) by building
+On Sept. 20, 2001 500 people gathered at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City to celebrate Cloward’s Life and Work. Speakers included [[Frances Fox Piven]], [[Barbara Ehrenreich]], [[Cornel West]], [[Gus Newport]]-(all members of [[Democratic Socialists of America]]), activists [[Howard Zinn]], [[June Jordan]], [[Joel Rogers]] and [[Tim Sampson]] plus long time voter registration advocate, [[Demos]] president, [[Miles Rappaport]].
-the local welfare rolls to create fiscal and political crisis very nearly succeeded.
-Instead, Congress
+==References==
-granted fiscal relief to states and localities through a new federal relief program called Supplemental
+<references</ref>
-Security Income (SSI). SSI was one of the most important federal social policy innovations in the post-
-World War II period.
-In 1971, Richard, along with his wife and collaborator, Dr. Frances Fox Piven, co-authored Regulating
-the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare. This is a landmark critique of government’s use of public welfare
-to suppress social disorder among the poor and to reinforce the low wage work market.
-Among their other landmark works, Cloward and Piven wrote The Politics of Turmoil (1974), Poor People’s
-Movements (1977), The New Class War (1982), Why American’s Don’t Vote, (1988) and The Breaking of the
-American Social Compact (1997).
-In 1982, Cloward and Piven founded the Human Service Employees Registration and Voter Education
-Campaign (Human SERVE), which promoted the idea that people should be registered to vote when
-they apply for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, unemployment benefits and driver’s licenses. A decade
-later, Human Serve’s program was incorporated in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Popularly
-known as the “motor voter” bill, it became law in 1993. This legislation represents an historic advance in
-the struggle to win full enfranchisement for low-income people and people of color. The Voting Rights
-Act of 1965 had stopped government from preventing people from registering to vote. This act goes further
-by embodying the principle that government has an affirmative obligation to register the eligible
-electorate.
-Despite Coward’s enormous contributions, or perhaps because of them, some within his chosen profession
-rejected him. Brandeis University rejected his application to teach at the Heller School of Social
-Work. That spurred a political uproar among intellectuals and activists who rallied to his side, albeit
-unsuccessfully. Later in his career he would file an age discrimination lawsuit against the Columbia
-University School of Social Work while under the administration of Dean Ronald Feldman. Here were
-two of the most prestigious schools of social work in the nation denying Cloward, who stood among the
-most prominent intellectuals internationally in the field of social work, either a job or a place of dignity
-within the field. Cloward once said in a late night conversation that he felt like a lone wolf because of the
-way the profession ostracized his work.
-On Sept. 20, 500 people gathered at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City to celebrate Richard’s
-Life and Work. Speakers included Barbara Ehrenreich, Howard Zinn, June Jordan, Gus Newport, Joel
-Rogers, Tim Sampson, Cornel West, Miles Rappaport, Frances Fox Piven and many others. For information
-on how to obtain a copy of the video of the celebration and an accompanying 87-page journal
-edited by Richard, which includes extraordinary photographs and materials about his work, please e-mail
-<kgrossin@aflcio.org>. Proceeds will be used to strengthen grassroots welfare rights organizing for the
-welfare reauthorization battle next year.
-Ken Grossinger was Richard Cloward’s student and long time friend. He works at the AFL-CIO.