“Chad Goldberg directs our attention to aspects of American political culture that help explain the cramped and punitive features of our social policies. He has written an informed and judicious book that is an important contribution to the literature on the American welfare state.”

Frances Fox Piven, CUNY Graduate Center

“In this outstanding book, Chad Goldberg incisively recasts the history of the American welfare state as a series of struggles over the terms of citizenship. Through a succession of carefully researched and artfully drawn historical case studies spanning a century and a half, Goldberg demonstrates that conflict over the citizenship status of welfare beneficiaries played a major role in the fundamental battles about race, class, and gender that shaped the nation.”

Robert C. Lieberman, Columbia University

“Goldberg’s impressive and original book offers a fresh perspective on U.S. social policy, demonstrating both historical depth and theoretical sophistication. Well written and highly readable, Citizens and Paupers will be of importance to sociologists, political scientists, and historians—or anyone interested in both the history of social policy and its current dilemmas.”

Edwin Amenta, New York University

“Chad Goldberg challenges the conventional argument that the modern welfare state represented a break with the historical tradition of means-tested benefits for the poor. Instead he demonstrates conclusively that the transition was not nearly as neat as often depicted and that the legacy of the poor laws remained embedded in social programs in subsequent decades. Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, this rich and complex book tackles fundamental debates regarding the meaning of democratic rights and the definition of citizenship.”

Jill Quadagno, Florida State University