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The geography of American retail has changed dramatically since the first luxurious department stores sprang up in nineteenth-century cities. Introducing light, color, and music to dry-goods emporia, these "palaces of consumption" transformed mere trade into occasions for pleasure and spectacle. Through the early twentieth century, department stores remained centers of social activity in local communities. But after World War II, suburban growth and the ubiquity of automobiles shifted the seat of economic prosperity to malls and shopping centers. The subsequent rise of discount big-box stores and electronic shopping accelerated the pace at which local department stores were shuttered or absorbed by national chains. But as the outpouring of nostalgia for lost downtown stores and historic shopping districts would indicate, these vibrant social institutions were intimately connected to American political, cultural, and economic identities.The first national study of the department store industry, From Main Street to Mall traces the changing economic and political contexts that transformed the American shopping experience in the twentieth century. With careful attention to small-town stores as well as glamorous landmarks such as Marshall Field's in Chicago and Wanamaker's in Philadelphia, historian Vicki Howard offers a comprehensive account of the uneven trajectory that brought about the loss of locally identified department store firms and the rise of national chains like Macy's and J. C. Penney. She draws on a wealth of primary source evidence to demonstrate how the decisions of consumers, government policy makers, and department store industry leaders culminated in today's Wal-Mart world. Richly illustrated with archival photographs of the nation's beloved downtown business centers, From Main Street to Mall shows that department stores were more than just places to shop.

Civil rights movements --- African American poor families --- History --- Social conditions --- Government policy --- Moynihan, Daniel P. --- Political and social views. --- United States. --- United States --- Race relations --- Economic conditions --- American History. --- American Studies. --- Business. --- Cultural Studies. --- Economics.

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Inspired by the political interventions of feminist women of color and Foucauldian social theory, Anna Marie Smith explores the scope and structure of the child support enforcement, family cap, marriage promotion, and abstinence education measures that are embedded within contemporary United States welfare policy. Presenting original legal research and drawing from historical sources, social theory, and normative frameworks, the author argues that these measures violate the rights of poor mothers. Drawing on several historical precedents the author shows that welfare policy has consistently constructed the sexual conduct of the racialized poor mother as one of its primary disciplinary targets. The book concludes with a vigorous and detailed critique of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's support for welfare reform law and an outline of a progressive feminist approach to poverty policy.

Public welfare --- Welfare recipients --- Poor women --- Poor families --- Poor African Americans --- Neoliberalism --- Sex and law --- Feminist theory. --- Feminism --- Feminist philosophy --- Feminist sociology --- Theory of feminism --- Neo-liberalism --- Liberalism --- African American poor --- African Americans --- Poor --- Families --- Feminization of poverty --- Women, Poor --- Women --- Public welfare recipients --- Government policy --- Government policy. --- Philosophy --- Economic conditions --- United States --- Social policy --- USA -- 361 --- Social Sciences --- Political Science

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Representation of the poor has never been the top priority for civil rights organizations, which exist to eradicate racially prejudiced and discriminatory practices and policy. Scholars have argued that the activities and ideologies of civil rights groups have functioned with a distinct middle-class bias since well before the 1960's civil rights movement. Additionally, all political organizations face disincentives to represent the poor-such advocacy is expensive and politically unpopular, and often involves trade-offs with other issues that are more central to organizations' missions. In Civil Rights Advocacy on Behalf of the Poor, Catherine M. Paden examines five civil rights organizations and explores why they chose to represent the poor-specifically low-income African Americans-during six legislative periods considering welfare reform. Paden's archival research into groups such as NAACP, the Congress of Racial Equality, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and her extensive interviews with movement leaders and activists reveal that national organizations advocate on behalf of the poor when they have incentives to do so. Organizational decisions to represent the poor are sometimes strategic, sometimes based on an ideological commitment, and sometimes both. However, Paden points out that decisions are never purely ideological-groups are always aware of strategy and of their positions within their issue niche when they fix their priorities. Civil Rights Advocacy on Behalf of the Poor also points to the critical role that radical organizations play in increasing representation in the U.S. political system. Paden maintains that radical groups matter not because their representation affects long-term policy change or is particularly effective in representing the interest of marginal groups. Rather, she argues, it is because they compete with more mainstream or conservative organizations for their constituencies.

African Americans --- Social advocacy --- Civil rights movements --- Poor --- Poor African Americans --- African American poor --- Disadvantaged, Economically --- Economically disadvantaged --- Impoverished people --- Low-income people --- Pauperism --- Poor, The --- Poor people --- Persons --- Social classes --- Poverty --- Advocacy, Social --- Social service advocacy --- Social work advocacy --- Social service --- Afro-Americans --- Black Americans --- Colored people (United States) --- Negroes --- Africans --- Ethnology --- Blacks --- Civil rights --- Societies, etc. --- History --- Economic conditions --- Black people --- Human Rights. --- Law. --- Political Science. --- Public Policy.