Not Another Hillbilly Salvation: Reading Welfare Assessment As Confession In Five Appalachian Counties

With the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRA) in 1996, the welfare system became more invasive through requirements for multiple assessments. In this thesis, I analyze seventeen qualitative interviews with welfare participants and workers in five Appalachian counties to examine the role of assessment processes in creating deserving and undeserving welfare subjectivities. Combining postmodern theory and qualitative research, I ask the question: how do local policies and practices produce "the Appalachian welfare participant"?