A Review of the Racial Biases of Social Welfare Policies

Abstract

Social welfare policies are crucial in advancing the well-being of individuals, yet they recreate the social disadvantage they attempt to ameliorate. Notably, these policies have perpetuated racial inequality in our society by implicitly or explicitly disadvantaging certain groups. This paper presents a review of the biases of social welfare policies. Using components of social construction and critical race theories, this paper highlights the ways the design and implementation of policies are racially bias. Among the policies it examines are mothers' pension, Social Security Act, and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

KEYWORDS:

• Racial biases
• social construction
• critical race theory
• social welfare policies