"The best way of handling the question of how much to give the poor, politicians have discovered, is to avoid doing anything about it at all," note Paul Peterson and Mark Rom. The issue of the minimum people need in order to live decently is so difficult that Congress has left this crucial question to the states --even though the federal government foots three-fourths of the bill for about 15 million Americans who receive cash and food stamp benefits.

The states differ widely in their assessment of what a family needs to meet a reasonable standard of living, and the interstate differences in welfare benefits cannot be explained by variations in wage levels or costs of living. The states with higher welfare benefits act as magnets by attracting or retaining poor people. In the competition to avoid becoming welfare havens, states have cut welfare benefits in real dollars by more than one-third since 1970. The authors propose the establishment of a minimum federal welfare standard, which would both reduce the interstate variation in welfare benefits and stem their overall decline.

Peterson and Rom develop their argument in four steps. First they show how the politics of welfare magnets works in a case study of policymaking in Wisconsin. Second, they present their analysis of the overall magnet effect in American state politics, finding evidence that states with high welfare benefits experiencing disproportionate growth in their poverty rates make deeper welfare cuts. Third, they describe the process by which the current system came into being, identifying the reform efforts and political crises that have contributed to the centralization of welfare policy as well as the regional, partisan, and group interests that have resisted these changes. Finally, the authors propose a practical step that can go a long way toward achieving a national welfare standard; then assess it's cost, benefits, and political feasibility.

This is the second of Momeni's two-volume series on homelessness in the United States. While volume I concentrated on the statewide distribution, variations, trends, and characteristics of the homeless population, the present volume addresses the problem of data collection and specific causes and issues that relate to homelessness. Unique in its attempt to bring systematic data and analysis to bear on the subject, this groundbreaking study focuses upon such critical areas as drug abuse among the homeless, the housing situation that gives rise to homelessness, homeless children, food sources, and problems of employment. Although the contributors approach the topic from a number of different perspectives, they are united in their conclusion that realistic solutions to the problem of homelessness rest not in establishing new and dramatic programs, but rather in forging links between government and private agencies to create a system-wide response to the multiple needs of the homeless population.

In addition to exploring the serious and persistent problems homeless people face, the contributors highlight the difficulties inherent in measuring the extent of homelessness accurately, concluding that efforts to do so are likely to produce an undercount. A number of chapters provide a clearer picture of the homeless population in America by examining both the socioeconomic and demographic correlates and the social-psychiatric dimensions of homelessness. Finally, the contributors compare and contrast the characteristics of homelessness and the methods of dealing with the problem in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. Two concluding essays provide an overview of homelessness on the national level and propose public policies likely to be most effective in reducing homelessness. Numerous tables and figures illustrate points made in the text. Students of social sciences, social practitioners, and public policymakers will find Homelessness in America provocative reading, and a reliable source of data and analysis.

Chapters in this work describe and analyze homelessness in 15 states, from all geographic regions of the US. The diversity of survey locations reveals a variety of forces contributing to homelessness. There are frequent efforts to situate the problem within the sociopolitical context of the 1980s. An occasional chapter contains rich theoretical commentary. . . . the scope of the findings is compelling and the contradiction of stereotypes is effective. Choice This volume reads and holds together well even though each of the 14 chapters was written by a different individual or group, covers a diffrent section of the country, uses different types of data sources and analytical methods, and evidences differing perspectives. An excellent foreword and introduction (Bruce Wiegand, Howard M. Bahr) put everything in context . . . Library Journal The essays in this volume attempt to answer some of the basic questions involved in the study of homelessness. They address such issues as the nature and extent of homelessness in the United States, the socioeconomic and demographic features of the homeless population, and how homelessness is conceptualized. Other examined matters include family background, duration of homelessness, shelter and social needs, socioeconomic causes, and the demands of the homeless issue on national policy. This work provides a unique sociological and demographic perspective on the problems of homelessness. Its emphasis on local and state-level studies will make it invaluable for civic groups and policy makers. It will also interest scholars in the fields of housing, urban sociology, and social problems.

Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen's first great book, now reissued in a fully revised and expanded second edition 'Can the values which individual members of society attach to different alternatives be aggregated into values for society as a whole, in a way that is both fair and theoretically sound? Is the majority principle a workable rule for making decisions? How should income inequality be measured? When and how can we compare the distribution of welfare in different societies?' These questions, from the citation by the Swedish Academy of Sciences when Amartya Sen was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, refer to his work in Collective Choice and Social Welfare, the most important of all his early books. Originally published in 1970, this classic work in welfare economics has been recognized for its ground-breaking role in integrating economics and ethics, and for its influence in opening up new areas of research in social choice, including aggregative assessment. It has also had a large influence on international organizations, including the United Nations, particularly in its work on human development. In its original version, the book showed that the 'impossibility theorems' in social choice theory-led by the pioneering work of Kenneth Arrow-need not be seen as destructive of the possibility of reasoned and democratic social choice. Sen's ideas about social choice, welfare economics, inequality, poverty and human rights have continued to evolve since the book's first appearance. This expanded edition, which begins by reproducing the 1970 edition in its entirety, goes on to present eleven new chapters of new arguments and results. As in the original version, the new chapters alternate between non-mathematical chapters completely accessible to all, and those which present mathematical arguments and proofs. The reader who prefers to shun mathematics can follow all the non-mathematical chapters on their own, to receive a full, informal understanding. There is also a substantial new introduction which gives a superb overview of the whole subject of social choice.

Examines the effects of rising social security costs and of measures adopted to deal with them, and discusses possible ways of coping with the shortfall of available money for the aging American population.

Poverty whether as drain theory at the start of the twentieth century or through garibi hatao towards the end of those 100 yearswas the predominant economic, political, and social paradigm within which late colonial, nationalist and post-independence era science policy was constructed. Whether as critics of Indias poverty, or as architects of measures for its eradication, Indias commentators called on a broad framework of science both to diagnose and treat poverty. Yet, when we think of science in India today, this earlier priority of poverty eradication is now hard to find. Poverty eradication as a goal in itself seems to have fallen off Indias scientific agenda almost entirely. What accounts for this? This volume asks: Has the problem of poverty in India been solved? Or, has it become inconvenient alongside the rise of new narratives that frame India as a site of remarkable economic growth? Indeed, has there been a loss of faith in the ability of science to tackle poverty? Together, the essays in this volume explore the broader implications for the new role of science in India: as a driver of economic growth for India, rather than as a solution to the persistence of poverty.

After the most serious economic crash since the 1930s and the slowest recovery on record, austerity rules. Spending on the welfare state did not cause the crisis, but deep cuts in welfare budgets has become the default policy response. The welfare state is seen as a burden on wealth creation which can no longer be afforded in an ever more competitive global economy. There are calls for it to be dismantled altogether. In this incisive book, leading political economist Andrew Gamble explains why western societies still need generous inclusive welfare states for all their citizens, and are rich enough to provide them. Welfare states can survive, he argues, but only if there is the political will to reform them and to fund them.

The Social Security Handbook: Overview of Social Security Programs, 2019 provides information about Social Security programs and services, and identifies rights and obligations under the Social Security laws. The completely updated Handbook, organized by section number, is a readable, easy-to-understand reference for comprehending complex Social Security programs and services and contains information on several topics relevant to Social Security policies: *How Social Security programs are administered *Who is and isn't covered under retirement, survivors, disability, and hospital insurance programs *Who is responsible for submitting the necessary evidence to support a claim *How claims are processed by the Social Security office *What Social Security benefits are owed to you *How to obtain information about your rights under Social Security policy The Handbook is designed to help users understand the gray areas of the Social Security Act, and to provide critical information about rights and obligations under Social Security laws. The Handbook outlines how to: *Protect your benefits and avoid benefit loss; *Monitor government agencies and get information about policy changes that will affect your benefits; *Make the most of hospital and Medicare coverage; *Determine the amount of benefits that are subject to federal income taxes; *Check Social Security earnings and benefits; and *Get up-to-date news about future Social Security programs and services.

The Social Security Handbook: Overview of Social Security Programs, 2018 provides information about Social Security programs and services, and identifies rights and obligations under the Social Security laws.The completely updated Handbook, organized by section number, is a readable, easy-to-understand reference for comprehending complex Social Security programs and services and contains information on several topics relevant to Social Security policies: *How Social Security programs are administered *Who is and isn't covered under retirement, survivors, disability, and hospital insurance programs *Who is responsible for submitting the necessary evidence to support a claim *How claims are processed by the Social Security office *What Social Security benefits are owed to you *How to obtain information about your rights under Social Security policy The Handbook is designed to help users understand the gray areas of the Social Security Act, and to provide critical information about rights and obligations under Social Security laws. The Handbook outlines how to: *Protect your benefits and avoid benefit loss; *Monitor government agencies and get information about policy changes that will affect your benefits; *Make the most of hospital and Medicare coverage; *Determine the amount of benefits that are subject to federal income taxes; *Check Social Security earnings and benefits; and *Get up-to-date news about future Social Security programs and services.

Family Violence is a comprehensive, multi-disiplinary work that brings together in one source many findings from years of scientific research. Dr. Pagelow introduces various theories of the cuases of family violence; in addition she explores child abuse and neglects, spouse abuse, adolescent abuse, abuse of elderly partents, and the various types of sexual abuse in the family. The work is a summary of research in sociology, psychology, law, women's studies, family studies, social work, medicine, and counseling. It is essential reading for social workers, counselors, and others who are concerned with the causes, identification, and prevention of the many types of family violence.

While colonial imposition of the Canadian legal order has undermined Indigenous law, creating gaps and sometimes distortions, Indigenous peoples have taken up the challenge of rebuilding their laws, governance, and economies. Indigenous conceptions of land and property are central to this project. Creating Indigenous Property identifies how contemporary Indigenous conceptions of property are rooted in and informed by their societally specific norms, meanings, and ethics. Through detailed analysis, the authors illustrate that unexamined and unresolved contradictions between the historic and the present have created powerful competing versions of Indigenous law, legal authorities, and practices that reverberate through Indigenous communities. They have identified the contradictions and conflicts within Indigenous communities about relationships to land and non-human life forms, about responsibilities to one another, about environmental decisions, and about wealth distribution. Creating Indigenous Property contributes to identifying the way that Indigenous discourses, processes, and institutions can empower the use of Indigenous law. The book explores different questions generated by these dynamics, including: Where is the public/private divide in Indigenous and Canadian law, and why should it matter? How do land and property shape local economies? Whose voices are heard in debates over property and why are certain voices missing? How does gender matter to the conceptualization of property and the Indigenous legal imagination? What is the role and promise of Indigenous law in negotiating new relationships between Indigenous peoples and Canada? In grappling with these questions, readers will join the authors in exploring the conditions under which Canadian and Indigenous legal orders can productively co-exist.

In his famous report of 1942, the economist and social reformer William Beveridgewrote that the war was a 'revolutionary moment in the world's history' and so a time 'forrevolutions, not for patching.' The Beveridge Report outlined the welfare state that Attlee'sgovernment would go on to implement after 1946, instituting, for the first time, a nationalsystem of benefits to protect all from 'cradle to the grave.' Since then the welfare system hasbeen patched, beset by muddled thinking and short-termism. The government spends overGBP171bn a year on welfare and yet, since the Beveridge Report, there has been no strategicreview of the system. Compare that to Defence which, with its comparatively small budgetof GBP35bn, is subject to a strategic review at least every decade. Reform of the welfare systemneed not mean dismantlement, but serious questions must be asked about how a welfarestate as we understand it remains sustainable into the 21st century.

As the population ages and the health care system focuses on cost-containment, family caregivers have become the frontline providers of most long-term and chronic care. Patient care at home falls mainly on untrained and unprepared family members, who struggle to adjust to the new roles, responsibilities, and expenses. Because the culture of family caregivers-their values, priorities, and relationships to the patient-often differs markedly from that of professionals, the result can be conflict and misunderstanding. In The Cultures of Caregiving, Carol Levine and Thomas Murray bring together accomplished physicians, nurses, social workers, and policy experts to examine the differences and conflicts (and sometimes common ground) between family caregivers and health care professionals-and to suggest ways to improve the situation. Topics addressed include family caregivers and the health care system; cultural diversity and family caregiving; the changing relationship between nurses, home care aides, and families; long-term health care policy; images of family caregivers in film; and the ethical dimensions of professional and family responsibilities. The Cultures of Caregiving provides needed answers in the contemporary crisis of family caregiving for a readership of professionals and students in medical ethics, health policy, and such fields as primary care, geriatrics, oncology, nursing, and social work. Contributors: Donna Jean Appell, R.N., Project DOCC: Delivery of Chronic Care; Jeffrey Blustein, Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Barnard College; Judith Feder, Ph.D., Georgetown University; Gladys Gonzalaz-Ramos, M.S.W., Ph.D., New York University School of Social Work and NYU Medical School; David A. Gould, Ph.D., United Hospital Fund in New York City; Eileen Hanley, R.N., M.B.A., St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan / Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, New York City; Maggie Hoffman, Project DOCC: Delivery of Chronic Care; Alexis Kuerbis, C.S.W., Mount Sinai Medical Center; Carol Levine, M.A., United Hospital Fund, in New York City; Jerome K. Lowenstein, M.D., New York University Medical Center; Mathy Mezey, R.N., Ed.D., New York University; Thomas H. Murray, Ph.D., The Hastings Center, Garrison, New York; Judah L. Ronch, Ph.D., LifeSpan DevelopMental Systems; Sheila M. Rothman, Ph.D., Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Rick Surpin, Independence Care System.

During the 1990s the United States undertook the greatest social policy reform since the Social Security Act of 1935. In "Welfare Reform: Effects of a Decade of Change," Jeffrey Grogger and Lynn Karoly assemble evidence from numerous studies, including nearly three dozen social experiments, to assess how welfare reform has affected behavior. To broaden our understanding of this wide-ranging policy reform, the authors evaluate the evidence in relation to an economic model of behavior. The evidence they collect reveals the trade-offs that policymakers face in achieving the conflicting goals of promoting work, reducing dependency, and alleviating need among the poor. Finally, the authors identify numerous areas where important gaps remain in our understanding of the effects of welfare reform.

The book will be a crucial resource for policy economists, social policy specialists, other professionals concerned with welfare policy, and students.

From the international bestselling author of The Post-American World 'An intelligent, learned and judicious guide for a world already in the making' The New York Times Since the end of the Cold War, the world has been shaken to its core three times. 11 September 2001, the financial collapse of 2008 and - most of all - Covid-19. Each was an asymmetric threat, set in motion by something seemingly small, and different from anything the world had experienced before. Lenin is supposed to have said, 'There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen.' This is one of those times when history has sped up. In this urgent and timely book, Fareed Zakaria, one of the 'top ten global thinkers of the last decade' (Foreign Policy), foresees the nature of a post-pandemic world: the political, social, technological and economic consequences that may take years to unfold. In ten surprising, hopeful 'lessons', he writes about the acceleration of natural and biological risks, the obsolescence of the old political categories of right and left, the rise of 'digital life', the future of globalization and an emerging world order split between the United States and China. He invites us to think about how we are truly social animals with community embedded in our nature, and, above all, the degree to which nothing is written - the future is truly in our own hands. Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World speaks to past, present and future, and will become an enduring reflection on life in the early twenty-first century.

An Integrated Approach to Family Work for Psychosis is a manual for using cognitive behavioural approach to working with families of people with severe mental illness. The authors, all experienced clinicians, discuss the various core components of family work, including what constitutes family work, when it might be offered, and how and where it might be applied. As well as these core concerns, the authors also look at reframing challenges and overcoming common personal and external barriers to effective family work. Each chapter can be read individually or as part of the integrated manual. The central argument of the book is that family work must be individualised and it offers a clear approach to engaging and working with families to ensure that this happens, including guidance on how to link components of a service user's plan with their family's strengths and strategies for reducing stress. The book addressed both theory and practice, and concentrates on the experience of mental illness for the service user and their family, providing a focus for intervention. Exploring family work as an integrated psychosocial and educational support strategy, this manual will increase the confidence and competence of new family workers - mental health workers, social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists - and broaden the knowledge of those already working in the area.

From the author of "The Veteran's Survival Guide, The Veteran's PTSD Handbook" addresses the obstacles that veterans face when filing for benefits related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One of the greatest obstacles, John Roche writes, is establishing a connection between a veteran's service and PTSD. Because both combat stressors and noncombat stressors can cause PTSD and because of the difficulties in diagnosing the condition, filing a successful claim for benefits based on PTSD is difficult.In the same accessible, self-help style used in "The Veteran's Survival Guide," Roche offers detailed instructions on how to prepare a well-grounded claim for veterans' benefits relating to PTSD. He also discusses the four years he spent helping one veteran establish a "service connection" for his PTSD claim with Veterans Affairs. This book will be required reading for any veteran or veteran's dependent who wishes to obtain his or her well-earned benefits and for those officials of veterans' service organizations who assist veterans with their claims.

European welfare states are undergoing profound change, driven by globalization, technical changes, and population ageing. More immediately, the aftermath of the Great Recession and unprecedented levels of immigration have imposed additional pressures. This book examines welfare state transformations across a representative range of European countries and at the EU level, and considers likely new directions in social policy. It reviews the dominant neo-liberal austerity response and discusses social investment, fightback, welfare chauvinism, and protectionism. It argues that the class solidarities and cleavages that shaped the development of welfare states are no longer powerful. Tensions surrounding divisions between old and young, women and men, immigrants and denizens, and between the winners in a new, more competitive, world and those who feel left behind are becoming steadily more important. European countries have entered a period of political instability and this is reflected in policy directions. Austerity predominates nearly everywhere, but patterns of social investment, protectionism, neo-Keynesian intervention, and fightback vary between countries. The volume identify areas of convergence and difference in European welfare state futures in this up-to-date study - essential reading to grasp the pace and directions of change.

European welfare states are undergoing profound change, driven by globalization, technical changes, and population ageing. More immediately, the aftermath of the Great Recession and unprecedented levels of immigration have imposed additional pressures. This book examines welfare state transformations across a representative range of European countries and at the EU level, and considers likely new directions in social policy. It reviews the dominant neo-liberal austerity response and discusses social investment, fightback, welfare chauvinism, and protectionism. It argues that the class solidarities and cleavages that shaped the development of welfare states are no longer powerful. Tensions surrounding divisions between old and young, women and men, immigrants and denizens, and between the winners in a new, more competitive, world and those who feel left behind are becoming steadily more important. European countries have entered a period of political instability and this is reflected in policy directions. Austerity predominates nearly everywhere, but patterns of social investment, protectionism, neo-Keynesian intervention, and fightback vary between countries. The volume identify areas of convergence and difference in European welfare state futures in this up-to-date study - essential reading to grasp the pace and directions of change.

Moving beyong traditional concern with pattern and process, this innovative text explores the political and legislative history of a raciala segregation in Britain. It provides a critical commentary on the development of national and local housing policy, on the operation of the major markets and institutions, and on the organization of urban management. This book rejects the reality of a racea as an explanatory construct, focusing instead on how and why racial inequality is constituted through economic, political and social activity. It is a contribution to the growing literature in search of an anti--racist social science. To that end, segragation is analysed not just as a spatial form, but also as a politically constructed problem and as a socially constructed way of life. Together, these insights implicate the organization of residential space in the iniquitous dispensation of many economic, welfare and civil rights associated with citizenship in capitalist democracies. The Politics of a Racea and Residence explores the connections between social geography, social administration and political science. The book gathers together a hitherto fragmented body of data to provide a reinterpretation of a racial segregationa that is both theoretically innovative and politically relevant. It will therefore serve the needs of advanced undergraduates in a variety of social science disciplines, while providing a useful source of reference for courses offering professional qualifications in housing and urban management.

This report presents the findings of the first in-depth research into the nature of the organisations being created through the stock transfer process; their organisational culture, governance arrangements and staff management practices. It also investigates the role of Transfer HAs as developers and their evolving relationships with the local authorities. It asks critical questions such as: * How different are transfer HAs from traditional Housing Associations? * To what extent can they be considered "a new breed of dynamic RSLs (Registered Social Landlords)"? * How far have they inherited the values and ethos of their antecedent bodies?