Following the experiences of 40 women in some of the poorest rural and urban areas of Mexico, this book establishes a framework that explains how material hardships connect with the lived experiences of poverty. Through the voices of those in receipt of Mexico's conditional welfare support 'Prospera', Alienation in Motion examines the inadequacy of welfare sanctions to alleviate poverty.

Arriaga-Garcia explores the specific ways in which making government support conditional on proving personal worth alienates people from wider society, decreases their control over living conditions, and ultimately diminishes their power to lead a life of their own choosing. The book exposes the reproduction of inequalities, and the ways in which people become worse-off politically, economically, and symbolically as a result welfare discipline enacted via conditional cash transfer programmes (or CCTs).

Drawing insights from a review of over 150 internal and external evaluations of the Prospera programme in Mexico, and the many national and international reports on welfare conditionality, Alienation in Motion will be the most authoritative and up-to-date book on poverty and welfare support.