The Poverty of Privacy Rights

by Khiara M. Bridges

The Poverty of Privacy Rights makes a simple, controversial Poor mothers in America have been deprived of the right to privacy.

The U.S. Constitution is supposed to bestow rights equally. Yet the poor are subject to invasions of privacy that can be perceived as gross demonstrations of governmental power without limits. Courts have routinely upheld the constitutionality of privacy invasions on the poor, and legal scholars typically understand marginalized populations to have "weak versions" of the privacy rights everyone else enjoys. Khiara M. Bridges investigates poor mothers' experiences with the state—both when they receive public assistance and when they do not. Presenting a holistic view of just how the state intervenes in all facets of poor mothers' privacy, Bridges shows how the Constitution has not been interpreted to bestow these women with family, informational, and reproductive privacy rights. Bridges seeks to turn popular thinking on its Poor mothers' lack of privacy is not a function of their reliance on government assistance—rather it is a function of their not bearing any privacy rights in the first place. Until we disrupt the cultural narratives that equate poverty with immorality, poor mothers will continue to be denied this right.

Genres: Nonfiction, Law, Race, Legal

292 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 27, 2017

Reviews

[Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Academic books are a slog, but sometimes they're worth it. I thought this was going to be more from a sociological perspective, but it's argued almost completely from a legal perspective. That's on me, it's right in the title ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Karen Adkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bridges' thesis is clear, interesting and persuasive. She argues that privacy rights in the US are not only not neutrally applied (as in, some people have less access to privacy), but that they simply do not exist for some groups (poor mothers are her example, but she suspects her argument can be extended elsewhere). In other words, poor mothers in the US not only do not have the *same* access to privacy that middle- and upper-class folks do, but in fact the government is entitled and even expected to violate their privacy in crucial ways (for instance, the ways in which laws now entitle home inspections for anyone receiving federal aid). Her logic is sharp; she points out the impasse that a poor mother who *refuses* aid would still be getting home inspections on suspected child abuse. She argues carefully; she frames her thesis in both moderately (the rights exist for poor mothers, just not *effectively*) and strongly (the rights do not exist), and makes arguments for both, so skeptical readers can find their way into the book. Her research is prodigious; the writing careful and clear; she historicizes the problem (by arguing about how we moralize poverty in the US). It's just a terrific book.

[Mama's Got a Plan]

Khiara Bridges' earlier book, Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization, is a favorite. This new book's thesis is that "... poor mothers have been deprived of effective ... or actual ... privacy rights because the moral construction of poverty counsels that privacy rights will not yield the values that they are designed to generate when poor mothers bear them." If you are not interested in the legal theory behind the thesis, you could read just the first chapter and the conclusion, and still be richly rewarded for the effort.

Another way to experience this work is to listen first to a talk Bridges gave at Revolution Books in New York in October 2017.

[CTEP]

I picked up Khiara M. Bridges’ The Poverty of Privacy Rights after seeing it mentioned in an article on state surveillance of the poor in the United States, an issue that I have grown increasingly interested in over my last year of service. Bridges, a professor of law and anthropology, draws on case law and ethnographic accounts to argue that poor mothers’ rights to privacy have been systematically denied - or have in fact never existed in this country.



State intervention abounds in the lives of poor mothers, from social service assessments that ask invasive questions about women’s substance use and sexual activities, to policies that limit the reproductive choices available to those receiving government benefits. Yet court decisions have largely assumed that such personal involvement is well within the acceptable limits of various social service, medical, and law enforcement agencies. Often this has been justified by claiming that such privacy invasions are an acceptable trade-off for public services - women exchange their privacy rights when they enroll in Medicaid or Section 8, for example. Yet Bridges argues that poor mothers are given no real choice in the matter: either they submit to a high level of personal disclosure in accepting services, or, with no alternatives to providing for their children’s basic needs, they risk charges of child neglect and direct CPS involvement in their lives. No matter what, solely by virtue of their economic situation poor mothers face a level of government intrusion and influence that most people would refuse to accept.



The book goes into great detail about the rationale for various privacy rights and why they have not been universally granted. For example, most parenting decisions made by middle and upper class families are neither investigated nor attempted to be influenced by the state; barring evidence of extreme abuse or neglect, it is assumed that those closest to a child know how to properly raise them, and it is in the best interest of all for bureaucratic interference to be kept at a minimum. This is not so in the case of poor mothers, Bridges argues. Various government agencies, with the approval of our courts, have taken it upon themselves to place increased scrutiny on the parenting decisions of this population. Whether through capping aid at a certain family size or judgemental questioning about the relationship status of a child’s parents, the state has indicated that poor mothers are not to be trusted to raise a family on their own. Instead, it is in the best interest of their children and society as a whole for a family’s life to be reformed in line with certain assigned values. Stemming from a centuries’-old assumption that poverty is the fault of individuals’ moral deficiency, our government denies the privacy rights of poor mothers out of a belief that they, unlike other Americans, are not deserving of this fundamental personal liberty.



While I do not serve at a government agency, The Poverty of Privacy Rights discusses a number of issues relevant to my service. On multiple occasions I have heard residents warn misbehaving kids with statements like “people are watching us, we can get in trouble if you act like that” or “don’t do that, I don’t want to lose housing.” This has indicated to me a level of surveillance unthinkable in the lives of most families - as a child I certainly ran up and down the hallways screaming, but the biggest threat my parents faced was a phone call from an annoyed neighbor. Case managers are necessarily involved in many aspects of our participants’ lives, but I wonder whether the extent of their personal involvement and questioning can feel invasive or demeaning. In our line of work what, in the end, is the best balance between providing support and treating people as independent, fully capable individuals?

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a casual reader, this was a struggle to get through. The text is dense, academic, and legalistic. The repeated focus on the "moderate" vs "strong" argument felt pedantic, and frankly some of Bridges' arguments weren't convincing. For example, in chapter 2 she argues (quite convincingly) that the poor are more visible and more observed by the state (because they use more public resources, have smaller private spaces and so spend more time in public, and so on) - but then in Chapter 3 she spends some time refuting that argument (arguing instead that the wealthy are equally or potentially visible to the state through things like taxation and income deduction) without bothering to reconcile the two points.

That said, Bridges makes a lot of good points, and her work is well worth digesting and reflecting upon. For those for whom this is a subject of interest, the book is a great source of information and new ideas.

[Claire Binkley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, it's NOT "ok" that so many hardworking women have been deprived of their rights!

However, I found Khiara M. Bridges' book on Privacy Rights okay. I have been working on it for three days.

This book made me skittish about having an iPhone or even keeping my computer on for too long, which I admit IS completely irrational, and probably a function of it being much too late at night in my time zone, -5 GMT. (I stayed up extra late tonight to finish it but ultimately decided it wasn't worth it past understanding her thesis...)

During the duration of finishing this book, I found myself wishing there were more safeguards in place for people like her than just making sure she had a good fiancé in place.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really important, if dense, work on the structural, legal and cultural forces that deprive poor mothers of privacy rights.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful treatise on the ways in which poverty strips the right to privacy from mothers.