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| birth_date = 1932<!-- {{birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->

| birth_place = [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]], [[Canada]]

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| citizenship = USA

| fields = [[Political science]], [[Sociology]]

| workplaces = [[Boston University]], [[City University of New York]]

| alma_mater = [[University of Chicago]] (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.)

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| spouse = Herman Piven (divorced)</br>[[Richard Cloward]] (until his death, 2001)

'''Frances Fox Piven''' (born 1932) is a professor of [[political science]] and [[sociology]] at [[CUNY Graduate Center|The Graduate Center]], [[City University of New York]], where she has taught since 1982.<ref name=Bio>[http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss52_bioghist.html Frances Fox Piven Papers - Biographical Note], Sophia Smith Collection, [[Smith College]], [[Five Colleges (Massachusetts)|Five Colleges]] Archives & Manuscript Collections</ref>

==Life and education==

Piven was born in [[Calgary, Alberta]], [[Canada]],<ref name=Bio /> of Russian immigrants.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.asanet.org/about/presidents/Frances_Fox_Piven.cfm |title=ASA Presidents - Frances Fox Piven |last=Ehrenreich |first=Barbara |authorlink=Barbara Ehrenreich |publisher=''ASA Footnotes'' |date=November 2006 |accessdate=January 24, 2011}}</ref> Piven immigrated to the [[United States]] when she was one and was [[naturalized]] as a [[United States Citizen]] in 1953.<ref name=Bio /> She received a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in [[Urban planning|City Planning]] in 1953, an [[Master of Arts (postgraduate)|M.A.]] in 1956, and a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in 1962, all from the [[University of Chicago]].<ref name=Bio /> Piven is Jewish.<ref>{{cite book |title=American Jewish Biographies |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gIl2AAAAMAAJ |last=Polner |first=Murray |publisher=The Lakeville Press |year=1982 |accessdate=February 2, 2011}}</ref>

==Career==

Piven was married to her long-time collaborator [[Richard Cloward]] until his death in 2001.<ref name=Bio /> Together with Cloward, she wrote an article in the May 1966 issue of ''[[The Nation]]'' titled "The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty" advocating increased enrollment in social welfare programs in order to collapse that system and force reforms, leading to a guaranteed annual income.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty |last=Cloward |first=Richard |coauthors=Piven, Frances |date=May 2, 1966 |publisher=''The Nation'' |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/24-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Road Not Taken|last=Reisch|first=Michael|coauthor=Janice Andrews|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=f0iC56biZOgC&pg=PA145 |year=2001|publisher=Brunner Routledge|isbn=1-58391-025-5}}</ref> This political strategy has been referred to as the "[[Cloward–Piven strategy]]".<ref>{{cite news |title=Now It's Welfare Lib |last=Rogin |first=Richard |publisher=''The New York Times'' |date=September 27, 1970 |page=SM16 |quote=The Cloward-Piven Strategy, as it became known, had a simple radical appeal.}}</ref> During 2006/07 Piven served as the President of the [[American Sociological Association]].<ref>[http://www2.asanet.org/governance/elect2005.html American Sociological Association - Results of 2005 ASA Election]</ref>

===Activism and legislation===

Throughout her career, Piven has combined academic work with political action.<ref>{{cite news |title=BU's Piven No Cloistered Academic |author=McCain, Nina |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=May 20, 1979 |url=http://www.smith.edu/library/libs/ssc/agents/pivenarticle.html |accessdate=January 22, 2011}}</ref> For instance, in 1983 she co-founded Human SERVE (Service Employees Registration and Voter Education), an organization with the goal of increasing voter registration by linking voter registration offerings with the use of social services or state [[Department of Motor Vehicles|Departments of Motor Vehicles]]. Human SERVE's initiative was incorporated by the [[National Voter Registration Act of 1993]], colloquially known as the "Motor Voter Bill".<ref name=Bio />

Piven has called for [[Demonstration (people)|mass protests]] by the [[Unemployment|unemployed]] to effect changes in government policy.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Piven |first=Frances Fox |date=December 22, 2010 |title=Mobilizing the Jobless |journal=The Nation |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/157292/mobilizing-jobless |accessdate=January 22, 2011}}</ref>

===Criticism and threats===

In 2001, ''[[The New York Times]]'' commented:

<blockquote>Critics have since argued that by encouraging both the expansion in the welfare rolls and the militancy that went with it, Dr. Cloward and Dr. Piven helped contribute to a political backlash against the welfare system and the decline of middle-class support for programs to help the poor.<ref>{{cite news |title=Richard Cloward, Welfare Rights Leader, Dies at 74 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/23/nyregion/richard-cloward-welfare-rights-leader-dies-at-74.html?pagewanted=all |last=Flanders |first=Stephanie |publisher=''The New York Times'' |date=August 23, 2001 |accessdate=January 29, 2011}}</ref></blockquote>

Conservative commentator [[Glenn Beck]] has repeatedly criticized Piven, labeling her references to the [[May 2010 Greek protests]] a call to violence.<ref name=NYTSpotlight>{{cite news |title=Spotlight From Glenn Beck Brings a CUNY Professor Threats |first=Brian |last=Stelter |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/business/media/22beck.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 21, 2011 |accessdate=January 22, 2011}}</ref> Beck stated that she is an enemy of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]], and that the Cloward-Piven strategy would "intentionally collapse our economic system", which in turn has led to multiple death threats against her.<ref name=NYTSpotlight /><ref>{{cite journal |date=January 20, 2011 |title=Glenn Beck Targets Frances Fox Piven |journal=The Nation |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/157900/glenn-beck-targets-frances-fox-piven |accessdate=January 22, 2011}}</ref> Comparing Beck to 1930s [[Fascism|fascist]] broadcaster [[Charles Coughlin]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Harris |first=Paul |title=Frances Fox Piven defies death threats after taunts by anchorman Glenn Beck |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/30/frances-fox-piven-glenn-beck |accessdate=January 30, 2011 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=January 30, 2011}}</ref> Piven has replied that her references to riots are "not a call for violence"; that her critics are using "a kind of rhetorical trick that is always used to denounce movements of ordinary people, and that is to imply that the massing of people itself is violent."<ref name=NYTSpotlight />

==Honors and awards==

*[[American Sociological Association]] Career Award for the Practice of Sociology (2000)

*[[Charles McCoy]] Career Achievement Award of the Caucus for a New Political Science of the [[American Political Science Association]] (2004)

*Mary Lepper Award of the Women's Caucus of the American Political Science Association (1998)

*[[American Sociology Association]] Lifetime Achievement Award for Political Sociology

*[[Tides Foundation]] Award for Excellence in Public Advocacy (1995)

*Annual Award of the [[National Association of Secretaries of State]] (1994)

*President's Award of the [[American Public Health Association]] (1993)

*Lee/Founders Award of the Society for the Study of Social Problems

*[[Eugene V. Debs]] Foundation Prize

*[[C. Wright Mills]] Award<ref>[http://www.cuny.edu/about/people/faculty/bios.html?profName=francesfoxpiven&profile=0 CUNY Faculty Home Page and Bio]</ref>

*Honorary Chair of the [[Democratic Socialists of America]]<ref>[http://www.dsausa.org/about/structure.html Democratic Socialists of America - Our Structure]</ref>

==Bibliography==

* ''Labor Parties in Postindustrial Societies'' (Oxford University Press, 1992, ISBN 978-0-19-520927-3)

* ''The War at Home: The Domestic Costs of Bush's Militarism'' (New Press, 2004, ISBN 978-1-59558-092-4)

* ''Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America'' (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006, ISBN 978-0-7425-6316-2)

;With Richard Cloward:

* ''Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare'' (Pantheon, 1971, 2nd ed: Vintage, 1993, ISBN 978-0-679-74516-7)

* ''Poor People's Movements: Why they Succeed, How they Fail'' (Pantheon, 1977, ISBN 978-0-394-72697-7)

* ''New Class War: Reagan's Attack on the Welfare State and Its Consequences'' (Pantheon, 1982, ISBN 978-0-394-70647-4)

* ''Why Americans Don't Vote'' (Pantheon, 1988, ISBN 978-0-394-55396-2)

* ''The Breaking of the American Social Compact'' (New Press, 1997, ISBN 978-1-56584-476-6)

* ''Why Americans Still Don't Vote: And Why Politicians Want it That Way'' (Beacon, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8070-0449-4)

;With Lee Staples and Richard Cloward:

*''Roots to Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing'' (Praeger, 1984, ISBN 978-0-275-91800-2)

;With Lorraine Minnite and Margaret Groarke:

* ''Keeping Down the Black Vote: Race and the Demobilization of American Voters'' (New Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-59558-354-3)

The Frances Fox Piven Papers are held by [[Smith College]].<ref name=Bio/>

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

*[http://web.archive.org/web/20070205221842/http://web.gc.cuny.edu/Sociology/faculty/piven.html Frances Fox Piven faculty page] at [[CUNY Graduate Center]]

*[http://www.thenation.com/authors/frances-fox-piven Column archives] at ''The Nation''

*{{C-SPAN|francespiven}}

*[http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/frances_fox_piven Appearances] on ''[[Democracy Now!]]''

*{{IMDb name|1622032}}

*{{Worldcat id|lccn-n50-11264}}

*[http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss52_main.html Frances Fox Piven Papers] at [[Five Colleges (Massachusetts)|Five College Archives & Manuscript Collections]]

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQkdSj6arn0 Frances Fox Piven vs. Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell], debate, 1980, [[YouTube]]

*[http://vimeo.com/10819418 2010 Rekindling the Radical Imagination - Frances Fox Piven, Brian Jones, Arundhati Roy, and Noam Chomsky], March 21, 2010, [[Vimeo]]

*{{cite web |url=http://www.socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed/ls71.php |title=How Labour is (Part of) the Problem in Building the Left |author=Frances Fox Piven |date=October 15, 2010 |accessdate=February 8, 2011}}

*{{cite web |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/08/glenn-beck-fox-news |title=The real threat of Glenn Beck's fantasies |author=Frances Fox Piven |date=February 8, 2011 |accessdate=February 8, 2011 |publisher=''The Guardian''}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->

| NAME =Piven, Frances Fox

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| SHORT DESCRIPTION =American sociologist

| DATE OF BIRTH = 1932

| PLACE OF BIRTH =Calgary, Alberta, Canada

| DATE OF DEATH =

| PLACE OF DEATH =

}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piven, Frances Fox}}

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[[Category:American political scientists]]

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[[Category:Members of the Democratic Socialists of America]]

[[Category:City University of New York faculty]]

[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]

[[Category:People from Calgary]]

[[Category:American people of Canadian descent]]

[[Category:1932 births]]

[[Category:Living people]]

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