Introduction: Bringing Marginalized Mothers to the Center

Years ago, we sat on our front porch discussing our dissertations. These discussions were often venting sessions, in many ways, but they were also times to talk through our analyses. Over the course of these discussions, it became clear that welfare-to-work managers (Taylor’s dissertation) and anti-immigrant groups (Bloch’s dissertation) marginalized certain mothers in similar ways. Further, we realized, laws that exacerbated barriers faced by mothers receiving cash assistance and immigrant mothers were passed at the same time. Powerful racialized, gendered, classist, and xenophobic stereotypes held by outspoken people combined with neoliberalism helped fuel punitive legislation that eroded the safety net. Eventually we wrote a book chapter (Bloch & Taylor, 2014), but our interest in the marginalization of certain mothers and how mothers manage marginalization was born.