Synopses & Reviews
View the
Table of Contents. Read the
Chapter 1.
"Provides important insight into the manner in which federal support of faith-based poverty relief initiatives affect religious identity in the Golden Triangle Region of rural Mississippi."Journal of Church and State
"The book provides a thorough historical overview of the events that led up to the Bush administration's decision to promote faith-based social welfare. This thoughtful book is a useful addition to the growing literature on the subject and should be widely consulted."Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare
"Well-written and clearly organized."Journal of Social Services
"In depth profiles...with obvious strengths."Contemporary Sociology
"The findings raise serious concerns related to discriminatory practices around who will get served, and the qualification of those providing the services. . . . Highly recommended."
CHOICE
"The comparative case method stretched across a complex analytical framework sketches the terrain in broad, suggestive, analytical strokes. We benefit from the timeliness of Bartkowski and Regis's study."
American Journal of Sociology
"Nothing short of exceptional...Charitable Choices is a very readable book that makes an evident contribution to contemporary discourse about welfare reform and its possibilities and pitfalls."
Social Forces
"These stories reveal not only the profound commitment that clergy can have for their flock but how existing social structures can render the poor invisible. Charitable Choices is more useful as a description of an under-recognized aspect of American religious life than as an analysis of government welfare policy."
Religious Studies Review
Congregations and faith-based organizations have become key participants in America's welfare revolution. Recent legislation has expanded the social welfare role of religious communities, thus revealing a pervasive lack of faith in purely economic responses to poverty.
Charitable Choices is an ethnographic study of faith-based poverty relief in 30 congregations in the rural south. Drawing on in-depth interviews and fieldwork in Mississippi faith communities, it examines how religious conviction and racial dynamics shape congregational benevolence. Mississippi has long had the nation's highest poverty rate and was the first state to implement a faith-based welfare reform initiative. The book provides a grounded and even-handed treatment of congregational poverty relief rather than abstract theory on faith-based initiatives.
The volume examines how congregations are coping with national developments in social welfare policy and reveals the strategies that religious communities utilize to fight poverty in their local communities. By giving particular attention to the influence of theological convictions and organizational dynamics on religious service provision, it identifies both the prospects and pitfalls likely to result from the expansion of charitable choice.
Review
“Bartkowski and Regis get behind the rhetoric about church-based social services in this timely examination of on-the-ground realities as seen by Mississippi clergy. Perhaps the most important lesson in these pages is how strongly race shapes even religious efforts to aid the poor. Charitable Choices helps us understand why this is so.”
-Mark Chaves,University of Arizona
Review
“A wonderful book and a great piece of original research. I not only found the work insightful, but it was interesting all along the way. Bartkowski and Regis are bright new stars!”
-Bob Wineburg,Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor, UNC Greensboro and author of A Limited Partnership: The Politics of Religion Welfare and Social Service
Review
“The book provides a thorough historical overview of the events that led up to the Bush administration's decision to promote faith-based social welfare. This thoughtful book is a useful addition to the growing literature on the subject and should be widely consulted.”
-Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare,
Review
“Well-written and clearly organized.”
-Journal of Social Services,
Review
“Bartkowski and Regis get behind the rhetoric about church-based social services in this timely examination of on-the-ground realities as seen by Mississippi clergy. Perhaps the most important lesson in these pages is how strongly race shapes even religious efforts to aid the poor. Charitable Choices helps us understand why this is so.”
“A wonderful book and a great piece of original research. I not only found the work insightful, but it was interesting all along the way. Bartkowski and Regis are bright new stars!”
“Provides important insight into the manner in which federal support of faith-based poverty relief initiatives affect religious identity in the Golden Triangle Region of rural Mississippi.”
“The book provides a thorough historical overview of the events that led up to the Bush administration's decision to promote faith-based social welfare. This thoughtful book is a useful addition to the growing literature on the subject and should be widely consulted.”
“Well-written and clearly organized.”
Review
“A wonderful book and a great piece of original research. I not only found the work insightful, but it was interesting all along the way. Bartkowski and Regis are bright new stars!”
Review
“Provides important insight into the manner in which federal support of faith-based poverty relief initiatives affect religious identity in the Golden Triangle Region of rural Mississippi.”
-Journal of Church and State,
Review
“Well-written and clearly organized.”
Synopsis
An ethnographic study of faith-based poverty relief programs in 30 congregations in the rural south.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-203) and index.
Synopsis
Congregations and faith-based organizations have become key participants in Americas welfare revolution. Recent legislation has expanded the social welfare role of religious communities, thus revealing a pervasive lack of faith in purely economic responses to poverty.
Charitable Choices is an ethnographic study of faith-based poverty relief in 30 congregations in the rural south. Drawing on in-depth interviews and fieldwork in Mississippi faith communities, it examines how religious conviction and racial dynamics shape congregational benevolence. Mississippi has long had the nation's highest poverty rate and was the first state to implement a faith-based welfare reform initiative. The book provides a grounded and even-handed treatment of congregational poverty relief rather than abstract theory on faith-based initiatives.
The volume examines how congregations are coping with national developments in social welfare policy and reveals the strategies that religious communities utilize to fight poverty in their local communities. By giving particular attention to the influence of theological convictions and organizational dynamics on religious service provision, it identifies both the prospects and pitfalls likely to result from the expansion of charitable choice.
Synopsis
Comparative Politics provides a comprehensive, theoretical, and methodological introduction to the field of comparative politics. In the sciences, theory is tested through direct experimentation. In politics, however, social scientists cannot simply manipulate an institution or law to see what might happen. Comparisons of different political contexts are thus central to political theory. Analyzing what happens when different countries modify constitutions or party systems provides useful information about the probable consequences of such changes among diverse political orders.
The world of politics is full rich and complex factors which influence the way people vote, how policies are made, or how interest groups lobby. Written by a well-established author with an international reputation, Comparative Politics, surveys the best work in the field, examining the issues involved in an attempt to compare political systems and discussing how the methods and results of comparative politics can be improved.
This valuable survey presents a wide array of case studies to illustrate how comparative analysts devise effective methods to construct meaningful theories about political systems. All major current approaches are covered, making this essential reading for students of politics and government.
About the Author
John P. Bartkowski is Associate Professor of Sociology at Mississippi State University. He is the author of
Remaking the Godly Marriage: Gender Negotiation in Evangelical Families.
Helen Regis is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Louisiana State University. Her work on New Orleans jazz funerals and second lines has appeared in American Ethnologist and Cultural Anthropology.