title: Three worlds of relief: race, immigration, and public and private social welfare spending in American cities, 1929.
abstract: Using a data set of public and private relief spending for 295 cities, this article examines the racial and ethnic patterning of social welfare provision in the United States in 1929. On the eve of the Depression, cities with more blacks or Mexicans spent the least on social assistance and relied more heavily on private money to fund their programs. Cities with more European immigrants spent the most on relief and relied more heavily on public funding. Distinct political systems, labor market relations, and racial ideologies about each group's proclivity to use relief best explain relief spending differences across cities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley 94720-1980, USA. cfox@berkeley.edu
authors.forename: Cybelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fox
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000266:history; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000266:history*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D011057:Politics; D017149:Private Sector; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history*; D017150:Public Sector; D011822:Race Relations / Q000266:history*; D012066:Relief Work / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States