Instructions

Adding bibliography entries to the ‘Staging Bibliography‘

• DOI/ISBN: For articles, add the DOI. For books, add the ISBN. This will help users find the resource in public catalogs. 
• Link: In this section, please add a public-facing link to the resource (i.e., to the publishing house, Academia.edu, ResearchGate, …). Make sure not to link to the Duke University Libraries catalog since only users with Duke affiliation will be able to access the resource.
• Abstract: In this section, please copy and paste the author’s own abstract for the entry. If there is no abstract for your entry, write “N/A”. 
• Tags: Tags are the main organizational structure of the bibliography. Here is a document with the tags we are using, including their description. Please do not add new tags – if you can think of any terms that aptly describe the entry, feel free to use them in the “notes” section (see below). If you are unsure what a particular tag means, please reach out! 
• Notes:  Please write a review of the resource in 250 words for an article or 500 words for a book, answering the following questions.  Do not copy the abstract that you will paste, instead, in the appropriate section.

1. Give a one-sentence description of the article’s topic
2. Give a 1-2 sentence summary of the article’s argument.
3. Offer a brief explanation (2-3 sentences) of the article’s methodology.  This explanation should include a description of the types of evidence used and the strategies the author(s) use to analyze that evidence.  Please note any strengths or limitations of this methodology.
4. Describe briefly (1-2 sentences) how the article engages the question of care.
5. Indicate any areas for further research suggested by the article.
6. Keywords: Please add a few keywords, selecting them from the existing keywords or even adding them if you think they are missing. 
7. You can add Suggested Tags that we consider more comprehensive categories if compared to keywords

Example for Writing a Note

Fraser & Gordon, “A Genealogy of Dependency: Tracing a Keyword of the U.S. Welfare State,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 19/2 (1994), 309-364. 

Tags: Class, Gender, Household configurations, Labor, North America, Precarity, Social care, Social practices.

This article traces the historical and ideological construction of dependency as a key term in the U.S. welfare state, examining how its meaning has evolved across different social and economic contexts. Fraser and Gordon argue that dependency is not a neutral descriptor but an ideological construct that has shifted in meaning over time. They show how dependency has been used to stigmatize individuals, particularly poor women and recipients of state welfare, reinforcing notions of individual responsibility while obscuring structural inequalities. The authors highlight how, by the post-industrial era, dependency became increasingly racialized and gendered, culminating in the figure of the “black, unmarried, teenaged, welfare-dependent mother.”
The authors employ a genealogical analysis, tracing the term dependency across pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial societies. They draw from historical documents, policy debates, and cultural representations to show how the concept has been used to reinforce specific ideological frameworks. A key strength of this approach is its ability to expose the shifting power dynamics embedded in language. However, the study is largely theoretical and could benefit from additional empirical data on welfare policies and lived experiences.
The article situates dependency within the broader politics of care, demonstrating how the term has been mobilized to justify the undervaluation of caregiving labor and to frame reliance on social support as morally suspect.

Future Research: The study suggests further research on how contemporary welfare policies continue to racialize and gender dependency, as well as how alternative framings of care might challenge neoliberal discourses on individual responsibility.

Keywords: dependency, welfare state, welfare mothers, gender, race, stigma, ideology, U.S. history, neoliberalism, public assistance, poverty, structural inequality, social policy, post-industrial society

Suggested Tags: welfare state

Submitted by Signature