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38 J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare 73 (2011)
Child Support as Labor Regulation

handle is hein.journals/jrlsasw38 and id is 473 raw text is: Child Support as Labor Regulation YIYoON CHUNG University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social Work The development of child support policy over the past three decades provides an emblematic case study of the ways in which a new policy that reflects the rise of moral arguments about individual and family responsibility, once established, produces significant conse- quences for both the economic sphere and political dialogues. I use social control theory to examine a rarely appreciated consequence of child support policies: labor regulation. Particularly, I demon- strate the ways in which the discourse embedded in child support has exalted the importance of work even under the lowest terms, and has deflected public attention away from labor market issues. Key words: child support, welfare, labor regulation, social control theory, parental responsibility, social constructions, noncustodial fathers, family discourse The development of the child support system over the past three decades provides an emblematic case study of the ways in which a new policy that reflects the rise of moral ar- guments about individual and family responsibility, once es- tablished, produces significant consequences for both the eco- nomic sphere and political dialogues. In this paper, I use social control theory to examine a rarely appreciated economic and political consequence of child support policies: labor regula- tion. In addition, I describe the ways in which a view of family that glorifies male bread-winners supporting their families through paid work is enmeshed in this process. Americans have experienced increasing inequality and insecurity for the last three decades (Hacker, Mettler, & Soss, Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, September 2011, Volume XXXVIII, Number 3 73

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