McDonough, Josefina Figueira2007McDonough, J F 2007, 'Neoconservatism in the United States and the institutionalized exclusion of Poor Women', Campus Social : Revista Lusófona de Ciências Sociais.1646-3749Campus Social : Revista Lusófona de Ciências SociaisPublic Assistance to the poor in the United States was always been reluctant and especially cruel to women. A society that from the outset prized Kantian principles of individual freedom over Rousseau’s notions of social contract and that was dominated by a puritanical morality saw poverty as self-made. If individuals had freedom of choice, bad outcomes were necessarily caused by bad choices. The poor had themselves to blame.application/pdfengopenAccessSOCIOLOGIASOCIOLOGYESTUDOS DO GÉNEROMULHERESESTADOS UNIDOS DA AMÉRICAGENDER STUDIESWOMENUNITED STATES OF AMERICAarticle