The American Dream and its Left Behinds

Historically in the United States, women have been the main targets of the Welfare State. Drawing on a research aimed at detecting recent developments in poverty policies in the United States, and specifically trends towards a growing privatization of welfare services and their intermediation by philanthropists and associations, this article exemplifies the public response to a philanthropic initiative aimed at fighting urban poverty in Boston. It analyzes the modes and factors determining a differentiation by gender of its effects among a racially segregated and socially disadvantaged population.