Motherhood, Poverty, and the WIC Program in Urban America

This urban ethnography examines the relationship between urban residence and endemic poverty and health inequalities. Looking at the everyday lives of struggling women, it explores how bureaucratic rigidity and hierarchy relate to personal decision-making in a context of pregnancy, parenting, and poverty.

Suzanne Morrissey is associate professor of anthropology and interdisciplinary studies and director of gender studies at Whitman College.

Introduction Chapter 1. Sick Cities: Poverty and Infant Mortality in Central New York Chapter 2. Imperatives and Impacts of the Federal WIC Program Chapter 3. What's the Problem?: Methodological Choices and Institutional Ethnography Chapter 4. Inside WIC: Bureaucracy, Barriers, and Provider Values Chapter 5. Strategizing Motherhood and Seeking Health in Urban America Chapter 6. Metaphorical Thought and the Construction of WIC Frames of Reference Chapter 7. Hidden Rationalities Appendixes A-O