Bio: (1932-) American sociologist and political scientist. Francis Fox Piven completed her doctoral studies at the University of Chicago and taught at Boston University and New York City University. Piven is known for her academic contributions in the fields of: poverty, civic and mass movements, classes, parties and voting behavior, American politics, etc. In addition to her academic contributions, Piven herself has been very involved in many movements and public campaigns as an activist. She is one of the few women who have served as president of the American Sociological Society. Many of her books and articles were written in collaboration with the American sociologist Richard Cloward.

In Regulating the Poor (1971), Piven and Cloward conclude that social policy reforms, both during the  New Deal of the 1930s and those of the 1960s, were not primarily aimed at helping the poor, so that they can get out of poverty, but to control them. These social measures and programs were introduced to calm the social dissatisfaction of the poor population during the period of economic and social crisis and mostly ceased after the end of the crisis. Social programs do not serve to limit capitalist institutions but to strengthen and maintain them.

These two authors continued to study the poor population, and in the book Poor People’s Movements (1977), they focused on the social movements of this disenfranchised population. The focus of this research was on the factors that contribute to, or hinder, the success of these movements. Piven and Cloward believe that the social movements of the poor should not be focused on creating organizational resources, because that diverts energy from mass protests. The success of these movements depends on mass and radical expressions of dissatisfaction through demonstrations and the illegal occupation of buildings and other facilities owned by those being protested. Creating a formal organization of these movements can lead to these organizations becoming an end in themselves and thus their struggle would lose its edge. They saw the psychological causes of the protest in the great frustration of the poor, and not in the rational approach to the problem through the creation of strategies. For these movements to succeed, the disenfranchised must experience, the situation in which they find themselves, as very unjust, but at the same time, understand that situation can change for the better. However, only during the period of great systemic crises did these movements really manage to get some concessions from the elite. The authors felt that poor movements had a positive impact on other movements, such as the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

In Why Americans Don't Vote (1988), Labor Parties in Post-Industrial Societies (1992), Why Americans Still Don't Vote (2000), and Keeping Down the Black Vote (2009) Piven explores the political and economic reasons that led the poor and other disenfranchised populations not to vote, and therefore not to have adequate political representation in US Congress. Piven shows that the reason for the low turnout in the US elections is the systematic attempt of the political elite to limit the right to vote by making the registration process for voting more difficult. It is precisely such machinations that have led to the interests of the poor not being proportionally represented in government institutions. The weakening of the power of the trade union is another important factor influencing the reduction of the power of the working class. The author concludes that the poor people in the United States are largely excluded from the democratic process and that the enormous economic inequalities created by capitalism substantially limit political equality.

Main works

Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare (1971);

Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail (1977);

The New Class War (1982);

Roots to Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing (1984);

Why Americans Don’t Vote (1988);

Labor Parties in Postindustrial Societies (1992);

The Breaking of the American Social Compact (1997);

Why Americans Still Don't Vote: And Why Politicians Want it That Way (2000);

The War at Home: The Domestic Costs of Bush's Militarism ( 2004);

Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America (2006);

Keeping Down the Black Vote: Race and the Demobilization of American Voters (2009).