"Keeping Our Heads Above Water" Rethinking Need and Participation in Public Anti-poverty Programs.

TL;DRAbstract

U.S. policy addresses poverty through more than a dozen independent programs, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), yet research has long noted that many eligible households do not claim benefits. This study explores how people make choices regarding participation in public anti-poverty programs. Drawing on previous life experiences, future expectations, and comparisons to others, people construct their own "interpretations of need" -- complex narratives, describing not only the material resources necessary for survival but also less tangible resources (time, relationships, etc.) that enable people to think of themselves as good parents, community members, and contributors to society. Yet while distinctly individual, nearly all of these interpretations ultimately conform to the U.S.’s hegemonic poverty discourse, which connects poverty to concepts of personal responsibilit

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