Station_4_Welfare_To_Work

//Station #4: Welfare to Work // __CONTEXT __ The term “Virtue of Work” infers that one’s labors are intended to benefit the community at large. Now recall the contemporary stigma associated with unemployment. Several months ago, U.S. Senator Jon Kyl’s argued //against// extending unemployment benefits to people in need of welfare. According to Kyl: “There is a virtue in finding and keeping a job for the betterment of the community.” In the Washington D.C. news publication //The Hill//, Kyl claimed that extending welfare and unemployment benefits “acts as a //disincentive// for people to find new work” and “dissuades people from job-hunting.” Kyl’s claims reminded of how that virtue helped create and maintains stereotypes regarding joblessness.

Play the short video clip. Pay special attention to the use of the words “welfare,” “work,” and “community.” Consider the organization of information within the clip—the premises stated and inferred by the narrator, and the conclusions at which he arrives.


 * Play the three short video clips below. ** As you watch and listen, be sure to keep //informal // notes below. What **__statements__ **, **__motifs__ ** (recurring images, dialogue, symbols, or idea), and **__themes__ ** //immediately // strike you as **__memorable__ **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 20px;"> or **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 20px;">__exigent__ **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 20px;"> (emotionally impactful)? As you watch, keep the following questions in mind. (Do not //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 20px;">formally //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 20px;"> answer them. Use them as a basis for your note-taking.)

//<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">The “Welfare to Work” program was intended to make formerly unemployed people recognize the virtue of work by forcing them to repay welfare money. In what specific direct and indirect ways might “the virtue of work” lend itself to making our social problems within communities worse? //

//<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Is the organization of material in the clip itself logical or illogical? Does it make a strong argument, or is its argument weakened by assumptions and circumstantial evidence? //

//<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">What arguments are Marxist in nature? What specific tenets could a cultural critic cite in a “reading” of this clip? //


 * <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Click [[file:Welfare Wiki 1 (ATV).m4v|here]] for the first video clip. Click [[file:Welfare Wiki 2 (ATV).m4v|here]] for the second video clip. Click [[file:Welfare Wiki 3 (ATV).m4v|here]] for the third video clip. **

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Finally, **__engage in a small-group discussion__**. Each member of the group **__must contribute to the process by fulfilling an assigned role__**. Then, in a thoughtful, “MEL-style” short essay response, answer this question:

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">What **__specific information__** should a Marxist critic consider in an analysis of this text? Using that information as **__evidence__**, what **__meaning__** can //we// make of this text, **__using Marxist tenets as our “lenses”__**?