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The Welfare Debate (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,902
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The Welfare Debate (Hardcover)
Series: Historical Guides to Controversial Issues in America
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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"Welfare politics" have now been part of American life for four
centuries. Beyond a persistent general idea that Americans have a
collective obligation to provide for the poorest among us, there
has been little common ground on which to forge political and
philosophical consensus. Are poor people poor because of their own
shortcomings and moral failings, or because of systemic societal
and econonomic obstacles? That is, does poverty have individual or
structural causes? This book demonstrates why neither of these two
polemical stances has been able to prevail permanently over the
other and explores the public policy--and real-life--consequences
of the stalemate. Author Greg M. Shaw pays special attention to the
outcome of the 1996 act that was heralded as "ending welfare as we
know it." Historically, people on all sides of the welfare issue
have hated welfare--but for different reasons. Like our forebears,
we have constantly disagreed about where to strike the balance
between meeting the basic needs of the very poor and "creating
dependency," or undermining individual initiative. The shift in
1996 from New Deal welfare entitlement to "workfare" mirrored the
national mood and ascendant political ideology, as had welfare
policy throughout American history. The special contribution of
this book is to show how evolving understandings of four key
issues--markets, motherhood, race, and federalism--have shaped
public perceptions in this contentious debate. A rich historical
narrative is here complemented by a sophisticated analytical
understanding of the forces at work behind attempts to solve the
welfare dilemma. Chapters cover: BLThe Early American Roots of
Welfare BLControlling the Poor in19th-Century America BLFrom
Mothers' Pensions to a Troubled Aid to Dependent Children Program
BLThe Rise and Fall of the Great Society BLThe 1970s and 1980s:
Backlash and an Emerging Conservative Consensus BLThe End of
Welfare Entitlement BLA New World of Welfare How should we evaluate
the current "welfare-to-work" model? Is a precipitous decline in
state welfare caseloads sufficient evidence of success? Success,
this book finds, has many measures, and ending welfare as an
entitlement program has not ended arguments about how best to
protect children from the ravages of poverty or how to address the
plight of the most vulnerable among us. Series features: BLTimeline
anchoring the discussion in time and place BLBibliography of print
and Internet resources guiding further exploration of the subject
BLCharts and tables analyzing complex data, including survey
results
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