Frances Fox Piven, born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1932, is a Professor of Political Science and Sociology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York.
Piven earned her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1962. In 2006–2007 she served as the President of the American Sociological Association. She was married to her long-time collaborator Richard Cloward until his death in 2001. 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". Her critics have called this the "Cloward—Piven strategy."
Activism, Legislation and the Department(s) of Motor Vehiclesmoreless
Throughout her career, Piven has combined academic work with political action. For instance, in 1983 she co-founded Human SERVE (Service Employees Registration and Voter Education), an organization whose stated goal was increasing voter registration under the linking of social services or Department of Motor Vehicles usage with voter registration offerings. Human SERVE's initiative was taken up by the Clinton administration and made it into the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, colloquially called the "Motor Voter Bill".