The thing I find interesting is that in social science, they find links in interpersonal relationships like codependency, but try to deny that anything like dependency could arise due to welfare.
There is a literature, largely in social psychology, on codependency. I don't know it. But it does exist. And, so far as I know, it's not connected to the literature on poverty, welfare, opportunity, and so on. In that latter literature, there was, last time I read it with any degree of care, lots of different views, lots of different research. I'm, in no way, positioning myself as speaking for the substantive conclusions of that literature; only for proper methodology.
I doubt anyone argues that there is no dependency from welfare. I suspect there are all sorts of relationships to it among those using it. But the general policy argument you seem to be making here is that ending welfare would be better for those who receive it. That's the wrong headed policy argument. My own view on this score is that we need to provide support for folk who are poor but pay far more attention than we have to implementing policies that help the children of the poor escape it and jobs for their parents. That's the point of my notions about education.
Are you arguing that the best way to assist the poor on welfare is to end it?
From what I can observe the entire welfare system from top to bottom is one chain of dependency.
I see that's your opinion. And mine is that it's much more complicated than that. But, more importantly, the real question to me is how to help the children escape it. I don't see ending welfare as helping; only making it worse. Improving education is the way. And, obviously, improving access to jobs for parents. |
