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BOOK REVIEWS
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REFERENCES
E.Gimenez,
eds.1991.Specialissueon"Marxist-feminist
NormaStoltz,andMartha
Chinchilla,
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Collins, JaneL., andMarthaGimenez,eds. 1990. Workwithoutwages: Comparativestudies of
domesticlabor and self-employment.Albany:StateUniversityof New YorkPress.
Gimenez, MarthaE. 1982. The oppressionof women. In Structuralsociology, edited by Ino
Rossi. New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress.
Hansen,KarenV., andIlene J. Philipson,eds. 1990. Women,class, and thefeministimagination:
A Socialist-feministreader.Philadelphia:TempleUniversityPress.
Sacks, Karen Brodkin. 1989. Towarda unified theory of class, race, and gender.American
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Vogel, Lise. 1983. Marxism and the oppression of women: Towarda unitary theory. New
NJ:RutgersUniversity
Press.
Brunswick,
$22.50 (cloth).
ValeriePolakow portraysthe Americansocial welfare system gone astrayand its
effects on single mothersand theirchildren.She provides dramaticaccounts of the
fears, struggles,andambitionsof poor single mothers,bothyoung andold, Black and
white in America.As she attemptsto "recreatetheirvoices in the largerlandscapeof
history"(p. 186), Polakowis successfulin tellingof the everydaystrugglesof working
mothersabandonedby social welfare programs,of families devastatedby the many
governmentcuts to programssuch as Aid to Families with DependentChildren,and
of poor mothers'difficulties finding child care. In addition,this study reveals the
everydayexperienceof povertyfor childrenwithinpreschoolprogramsandelementary schools. This inside view of poor childrenand public child care confirmsmany
previous findings in the social science literature,acknowledgingstructuralclass and
race bias in the educationof Americanyouth. PolakowcomparesseveralHead Start
programsin Michigan,notingthe manydifficultiesthatbesetthe programs:consistent
underfunding,high ratesof staff turnover,and uneven qualityof staff.
Using an interpretiveethnographicapproachinvolving time-consumingand labor-intensiveinterviews and field observations,Polakow shattersthe image of the
"welfaremother"as hopeless.Instead,she presentsa diversepictureof single mothers
who want more for themselvesandtheirchildren.Some seek low-wage employment
and in the process risk eligibility for public assistance. To survive, women create
fragilesupportsystemsforthemselves.Polakowdiscussesthefeminizationof poverty
that affects not only the employmentand child care strugglesof single mothersbut
also the educationpoorchildrenreceive in the publicsystem or in "specialeducation"
settings.
The mothers' stories are based on eleven oral interviews in Michigan between
1989 and 1991. Polakow purposely chose to tell the stories of resilient women,
"becausein the struggle are many lessons to be learnedand many myths unveiled"
(p. 185). As an educationalpsychologist and early childhood specialist, Polakow's
astute analysis of poor children'sexperiences is one of the highlights of the study.
She points out that it is critical"to recognize and supportdiversityto restructurean
education inimical to studentsfrom differentculturalgroups who experience 'selfalienation'" (p. 162). She emphasizes that Americaneducatorsare responsiblefor
making schools "a place away from the edges" (p. 162).
In Michigan, Polakow visited over twenty classrooms.In the book she portrays
five classrooms from selected public school and preschoolprogramsobserved over
two and a half years. Whatshe finds in preschooland kindergartenclassrooms,with