WORK COMMITMENT AND CONSTRAINT AMONG MOTHERS ON WORKFARE

This article reports the findings of a study of single mothers who are mandated to participate in workfare programs. It examines how low-inc ome single mothers become involved in paid work and how the structures of their personal lives and their strategies of parenthood in low-inc ome urban environments shape their economic action. Interviews with wo rkfare participants show how single mothers view their economic field of action and how they interpret economic opportunities and make decis ions about work in the context of their obligations and commitments to their children and their close kin. This study extends sociological p erspectives on the relationship between work and family life to the st udy of women an welfare and addresses the shortcomings of poverty poli cy studies that ignore the family and neighborhood contexts of welfare mothers' economic activity.