Full Description
The expectation for fathers to be more involved with parenting their children and pitching in at home are higher than ever, yet broad social, political, and economic changes have made it more difficult for low-income men to be fathers. In It's a Setup, Timothy Black and Sky Keyes ground a moving and intimate narrative in the political and economic circumstances that shape the lives of low-income fathers. Based on 138 life history interviews, they expose the contradiction that while the norms and expectations of father involvement have changed rapidly within a generation, labor force and state support for fathering on the margins has deteriorated. Tracking these life histories, they move us through the lived experiences of job precarity, welfare cuts, punitive child support courts, public housing neglect, and the criminalization of poverty to demonstrate that without transformative systemic change, individual determination is not enough. Fathers on the social and economic margins are setup to fail.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter One Introduction
PART ONE Neoliberal Capitalism
Chapter Two "It's the Economy, Stupid"
Chapter Three Welfare Reform and Market Economy
Chapter Four "I Ain't No Fucking Check, I'm a Father"
PART TWO Social and Economic Marginalization
Chapter Five Public Housing and the Streets
Chapter Six Fathering Through the Looking Glass
PART THREE Relationships and Standpoints
Chapter Seven Intimacy, Masculinity, and Relating
Chapter Eight Fathers Making Sense of It All
Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
