The Cloward-Piven Strategy and Its Implications for Criminal Justice
Originally published by American Thinker The Cloward-Piven strategy was conceived in 1966 by communist sociologists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. Both Cloward and Piven were employed by Columbia University (Obama’s alma mater) as professors at that time. The original Cloward-Piven strategy aimed to overload the welfare system, leading to its collapse. The proponents of this strategy believed that a systematic change could be implemented after the collapse. This change they were advocating for was the introduction of universal basic income. Today, we can see this strategy being played out on a national, regional, and local level through mass illegal immigration, fraud, and other means. The core principle of the Cloward-Piven strategy is to create a societal crisis and use it as leverage for communist reforms. Although the theory focused on welfare, it is increasingly evident that these principles have been applied in other systems, including criminal justice. Cloward is now dea...