ABSTRACT
Among an array of conflicting ideologies in matters of welfare policy in the United States, the conservative right reflects the dominant viewpoint. The right is skeptical about public assistance and prefers compulsory work to income transfers. The right believes that an entrenched "rights concept" of welfare has established perverse incentives and "welfarism." Some conservatives speak primarily about the moral value of self-sufficiency; others focus on economic incentives; and others interweave these themes.
