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Case Studies in Compassion: Need Interpretation, Gender, and Family in an Era of Faith-Based Provision A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Danielle E. Docka-Filipek IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Advisors: Dr. Penny Edgell; Dr. Kathleen Hull August, 2013 © Danielle Docka-Filipek 2013 i Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the assistance of the individuals working in the organizations profiled. The leaders I followed push themselves and those around them to work towards surmounting at least a small portion of the barriers faced by the individuals they have dedicated significant amounts of their lives to serving. They gave their time, insight, and support generously, allowing me a window into the absolutely vital work they do in their communities. I do not take such gifts lightly, as those working in the non-profit sector face ever-increasing demands and constraints on their time and resources. Despite these limitations, all made time for my incessant questioning and prying observation, and for that I am eternally grateful. Many of my relationships with these individuals grew into close and cherished friendships that will extend far beyond the reach of my dissertation research. Obviously, I cannot list their names, but those of them with time and interest enough to read the acknowledgments page will know exactly to whom I’m referring. As well, the clients and participants in the programs I followed deserve a good amount of my gratitude. They shared many intimate details of their lives, and in some cases, did so with a woman who wasn’t much better than a complete stranger. Single mothers face what sometimes seem like never-ending demands on their schedule. The homeless often find themselves daily shuffled from agency to agency, with a sea of social workers, bureaucrats, and other professionals to engage, many times waiting multiple hours at each location for a hurried meeting in which they may or may not be ii granted resources. Volunteer youth mentors sign on for what can sometimes become a second full-time job. Therefore, the single mothers, homeless persons, and child mentors that were willing to speak with me in focus groups and interviews (many of these engagements easily stretched into 2-plus hour conversations) deserve a good deal of thanks. I am also grateful to the youth that shared every Saturday (and sometimes also Sunday) morning with me and a handful of other adults in creating an amazing community of strong women. I will remember our experiences fondly for the rest of my life. The dynamic intellectual community I enjoyed improved the quality of my work immeasurably. My colleagues at the University of Minnesota, in Sociology, Anthropology, American Studies, History, Political Science, Public Affairs, and Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies helped shape the texture of the finished product in many ways. In particular, Meg Krausch, Shannon Golden, Tim Ortyl, Rachael Kulick, Mike Vuolo, Joyce Bell, Daniel Winchester, Krissy Haltinner, Jesse Wozniak, Arturo Baiocchi, Keith Cunnien, Andria Strano, Raphi Rechitsky, and Matthew Wolf-Meyer deserve recognition for their kind support and intellectual insights. I am also grateful for the committed encouragement provided by my faculty mentors, Teresa Gowan, Doug Hartmann, Robin Stryker, Eden Torres, and Jennifer Pierce. All played important roles in balancing the tightrope walk of challenging and encouraging me as a mentee. In particular, my advisors, Kathleen Hull and Penny Edgell, are deserving of recognition. Their faith and conviction in my abilities kept me on the straight and narrow, and helped me maintain my commitment to the value of my research. iii Throughout the completion of this project, teaching provided a wellspring of hope, a reservoir of fresh perspectives, and a light at the end of the tunnel. Magali Roy-Féquière, Chad Broughton, Sharon Preves, and Monte Bute are my valued pedagogical mentors, and served both as models and sounding boards. My students were an especially bright point of light for me during the twists and turns this project took me through, and Sara Brunton is one of the brightest among them. Harmony Neal worked tirelessly as copyeditor, confidant, and treasured friend. She fielded panicked late night phone calls, tight deadlines, and helped me through the emotional burdens that so often accompany work such as this. Traci Tims, Mashinda Hedgmon, Lucy Ainsworth, and Aimee Hall also propped me up when I grew weary. Jason Filipek, my partner in crime, was the greatest source of emotional support of all. He deserves canonization, and an honorary degree in sociology, for his efforts and patience. My apologies to anyone I may have inadvertently omitted. iv Dedication -For Jason, and for my biological and chosen family, in whom I have always placed my ultimate faith. v Abstract As a result of provisions codified in the 1996 PRWORA, and later, through presidential Executive Order, many Americans now encounter the welfare state through small programs run by local churches. Both liberal and conservative worship communities in the US have embraced and maintained a ‘traditional’ family ideology in which nuclear family ideals are normative—despite increasing levels of diversity in the way the majority of Americans organize their family lives. The central concerns of this dissertation revolve around whether and how programs receiving funds associated with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) are organized around the needs of families that do not fit the traditional nuclear male- breadwinner ideal. I pose three primary questions: 1) How do institutionalized models of family and gender in faith-based organizations inform service providers’ interpretations of clients’ needs? 2) Do the models of family circulating in faith-based organizations have consequences for the ways these organizations become gendered social spaces? 3) In environments where models for the “Ideal Family” exist in tension with other forms of family life, will organizational rhetorics about family and gender reflect this diversity? To answer the above questions, interviews and participant-observation in four case study organizations (one theologically liberal, two theologically conservative, and one “community-based”), as well as 39 interviews with program authorities in 27 different organizations (drawn across a Midwestern, metropolitan area) were conducted. Although the organizations profiled exhibited a good amount of practices accommodating family diversity, organizational rhetorics did not always reflect the full diversity of vi participants’ family lives. Significantly, I observed a deep ambivalence surrounding non- nuclear family models, a pattern I argue is attributable to the way such family forms call into question dominant beliefs and practices related to the social construction of gender. Furthermore, I found that in settings of community and faith-based social service provision, rhetoric associated with the ideology of religious neoliberalism is pervasive, and extends beyond the discourse circulated by the theologically conservative coalition of elites with which it is normally associated. I argue the pervasiveness of religious neoliberalism is driven by structural conditions compelling organizations to resort to individualistic "moral resources" in the absence of material resources, which limits providers' capacity to promote and access alternative discursive resources that might otherwise reference structural inequality. Lastly, my data indicates that organizations’ self-definition as either community-based or faith-based does not indicate "more" or "less" religion, as many other analyses otherwise presuppose. The boundaries between organizations with religious characteristics and those with “non-religious," or more secular, self-presentations are porous, in that they shift over time and in both directions (i.e., organizations become more explicitly expressive of their religious character, or they choose to consciously abandon elements of their religious identity as time passes and their structure develops). Keywords: Gender, family, race, class, religion, welfare state, neoliberalism, and culture. vii Table of Contents List of Tables pg. vii 1. The Changing Landscape of Social Welfare Provision in the United States pgs. 1-41 2. State-Sponsored Social Ministry in Broader Context pgs. 42-91 3. Questions and Methods: Developing Design, Site Previews, and Social Location pgs. 92-136 4. The Program Director Interviews: Religiosity, Devolution, Remoralization, & the Gender/Family Nexus pgs. 137-169 5. “A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out:” Family, Faith, and “Relationship Building” at Integrity Intervention pgs. 170-218 6. “They Are Ours at the End of the Day:” Family, Gender, Race, and Need Interpretation at Graceful Girls pgs. 219-257 7. “Just You Wait Until Your Heavenly Father Gets Home!” Ministering to Single Mothers at Parenting Without Partners and Mastering Motherhood pgs. 258-307 8. Gender, Family, and Religious Neoliberalism: Acceptance, Rejection, and Reiteration at the Local Level pgs. 308-352 Endnotes pgs. 339-351 Works Cited pgs. 369-386 Appendix A: Background Form for Program Directors pg. 387 Appendix B: Interview Guide for Staff & Volunteers pgs. 388-392 Appendix C: Interview Guide for Staff & Volunteers pgs. 393-396 Appendix D: Focus Group Form & Questions for Integrity pgs. 397-400 Intervention Appendix E: Focus Group Form