Constructing the objects of our discourse: The welfare wars, the orphanage, and the silenced welfare mom

Journal/Book: Polit Commun. 1996; 13: 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007-1598. Taylor & Francis. 293-307.

Abstract: Recent welfare reform debates featured the return of the orphanage as a talked-about policy initiative. This institution's sudden return presented a problem for both its supporters and its detractors. Both groups had to make sense of the orphanage as they argued for or against its efficacy. Through our discourse we resolve such problems, Michel Foucault explains, constructing the objects about which we speak. Several strategies were deployed to construct the orphanage as a discursive object: a turn to media depictions; a historical reconstruction based on the testimony of past orphanage residents; and a shift in discussion to the economic framework of a good/bad investment. These strategies are significant for what they reveal about the relationship among public discourse, personal experiences, and the opportunities for persons of different social groups to debate policy proposals. All three strategies detached the orphanage debate from the everyday experiences of those who would be most directly affected by the orphanage's return-persons currently enrolled in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. These strategies rendered irrelevant the personal experiences of these individuals. This abstraction and marginalization enabled the construction of a second discursive artifact: the silent subject not permitted to speak, the welfare mom.

Note: Article R Asen, Northwestern Univ, Dept Commun Studies, Evanston, IL 60208 USA

Keyword(s): discourse strategies; Foucault; orphanage; welfare reform

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