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9 Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev. 89 (1998)
The Inevitability of Dependency and the Politics of Subsidy

handle is hein.journals/stanlp9 and id is 95 raw text is: The Inevitability of Dependency and the Politics of Subsidy by Martha Albertson Fineman The issue of welfare reform has generated a great deal of Although discussion in political and public arenas on welfare reform. Some -vantfes participants in this debate assume that the goal of welfare reform can dependent: and should be the eradication of public financial support for those related to who currently rely on welfare circums subsidies to provide for themselves and their families The debate which an has focused on single 'mothers, who have become the targets of operates, i social scorn and are often characterized as paradigms of and subsii welfare gone wrong. Those pheno wishing to trim welfare costs ph depict the single mother as a inevita burden on the taxpayer and, as a political construct, as uniV pathologically dependent upon the dole. Single mothers are considered to have relied on public support to such an extent and for such an extended period of time as to Martha Albertson Fineman is the Maurice T. Moore Professor of Law at Columbia University. She is a 1975 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for Luther M. Suygert of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1976 she developed the Feminism and Legal Theory Project which is now located at Columbia Law School. Professor Fineman has written numerous articles and books on feminism, family law, and the regulation of intimacy and sexuality. Her most recent book is THE N urm Mom , THE SExuAt. FAMILY AND 0m Tm =H CmTuRY TRAGEDiEs (Routledge 1995). p1 tat th in ia er: negatively affect their personalities articular and their potential for productive lives in society. tions of Ths haratertions of welfare mothers rest upon a certain .. may be set of assumptions. One such assumption is that dependency is an e societal avoidable condition-the nces in consequence of self indulgence, weakness of will and laziness. zdividual Independence, by contrast, is associated with productivity and endency strong moral character. Another assumption involves the belief that as social certain types of societal transfers ate earned and the recipients are rna are therefore entitled to receive them, !e and while other subsidies are charitable concessions to those people who are sal. too irresponsible to provide for themselves. Each of these assumptions about welfare mothers contains flaws. After discussing the contemporary discourse in our society concerning dependence versus independence, this article examines the manner in which only certain subsidized individuals are currently characterized as dependent based on the type of subsidy they receive. The nature, not the fact, of subsidy distinguishes the independent from the dependent This article argues that all individuals in our society, including those who consider themselves independent, receive some form of subsidization. Subsidy can take many forms. Although subsidies often consist of direct grants, those individuals or groups who VOLUME 9:1 1998

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