Second-Order Devolution Revolution and the Hidden Structural Discrimination? Examining County Welfare-to-Work Service Systems in California

ABSTRACT

Drawing from Critical Race Theory (CRT), and a structural intersectionality framework, we examine intersecting structural inequalities embedded in county welfare-to-work (WTW) service delivery in California. Using a mixed-method analytic approach, our results reveal that second-order-devolution revolution (SODR) shapes intersecting gender, racial, class, and spatial inequalities, and reproduces white supremacy. We find that counties with multiple privileged socioeconomic characteristics operate employment- or training-oriented WTW systems, whereas counties with multiple disadvantaged socioeconomic characteristics operate sanction- or education-oriented WTW systems. We discuss policy solutions to address the disparities in WTW service delivery systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Second-order devolution
• welfare-to-Work
• structural discrimination
• critical race theory
• intersectionality

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the six interviewees from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and the County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) for their valuable information on CalWORKs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under Grant 180713. Findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the supporting agency.