Cultural Dimensions of Workfare and Welfare.

In this paper I consider the political controversies surrounding a type of income support not commonly recognized as ?welfare.? In Israel, thousands of ultra-orthodox Jewish families receive substantial state support in large part because the male heads of households engage in Torah study rather than paid employment (and their wives are frequently pregnant and caring for newborns). In France, small-holding farmers work (by definition) but that work is economically viable only given significant levels of state support. Without support, people in both groups would be poor (or poorer) ? much as anyone who receives welfare would be poorer without it ? unless they chose to move to some other activity that was more economically viable. In both cases individuals would reject the notion that they ought to move to some other activity; their current activities are experienced as constitutive of their ?way of life? or their culture. State income support policies are controversial because others perceive that recipients are choosing to live in a way that does not provide for economic self-sufficiency. I compare the treatment of such groups to that experienced by ?normal? welfare recipients to draw conclusions about the need for an understanding of welfare informed by cultural considerations. Public discourse concerning welfare would be more enlightening if we could ensure a sustained focus on the issue that matters for varying outcomes in this regard, i.e., culture. The comparison in this paper suggests that the emphasis on ?work? or its alleged absence is misguided and distracting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]