University of California Press Trapped in a Maze: How Social Control Institutions Drive Family Poverty and Inequality

Trapped in a Maze provides a window into families' lived experiences in poverty by looking at their complex interactions with institutions such as welfare, hospitals, courts, housing, and schools. Families are more intertwined with institutions than ever as they struggle to maintain their eligibility for services and face the possibility that involvement with one institution could trigger other types of institutional oversight. Many poor families find themselves trapped in a multi-institutional maze, stuck in between several systems with no clear path to resolution. Tracing the complex and often unpredictable journeys of families in this maze, this book reveals how the formal rationality by which these institutions ostensibly operate undercuts what they can actually achieve. And worse, it demonstrates how involvement with multiple institutions can perpetuate the conditions of poverty that these families are fighting to escape. From the Inside Flap "In this thoughtful and original work, Paik shows the challenges families face as they interact with multiple institutions. Her access to family life was incredible, and the result is a nuanced portrait of the experiences of low-income families. She compellingly demonstrates how families work hard to navigate institutions&;but still remain trapped. Highly recommended!"&;Annette Lareau, author of Unequal Childhoods: Class Race and Family Life "This book draws on impressive data to show how families with troubles navigate complex and contradictory bureaucratic institutions. Leslie Paik's work to explicate these interconnections across agencies, rules, and experiences is an important contribution to our understanding of families' lived experiences."&;Jennifer A. Reich, author of  Fixing Families: Parents, Power, and the Child Welfare System From the Back Cover "In this thoughtful and original work, Leslie Paik shows the challenges families face as they interact with multiple institutions. Her access to family life was incredible, and the result is a nuanced portrait of the experiences of low-income families. She compellingly demonstrates how families work hard to navigate institutions--but still remain trapped. Highly recommended!"--Annette Lareau, author of Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life "This book draws on impressive data to show how families with troubles navigate complex and contradictory bureaucratic institutions. Explicating interconnections across agencies, rules, and experiences, it is an important contribution to our understanding of families' lived experiences."--Jennifer A. Reich, author of Fixing Families: Parents, Power, and the Child Welfare System About the Author Leslie Paik is Associate Professor of Sociology at the City College of New York. She is the author of Discretionary Justice: Looking inside a Juvenile Drug Court.