It is a commonplace that the United States lagged behind the
countries of Western Europe in developing modern social policies.
But, as Theda Skocpol shows in this startlingly new historical
analysis, the United States actually pioneered generous social
spending for many of its elderly, disabled, and dependent citizens.
During the late nineteenth century, competitive party politics in
American democracy led to the rapid expansion of benefits for Union
Civil War veterans and their families.
Some Americans hoped to expand veterans' benefits into pensions
for all of the needy elderly and social insurance for workingmen
and their families. But such hopes went against the logic of
political reform in the Progressive Era. Generous social spending
faded along with the Civil War generation.
Instead, the nation nearly became a unique maternalist welfare
state as the federal government and more than forty states enacted
social spending, labor regulations, and health education programs
to assist American mothers and children. Remarkably, as Skocpol
shows, many of these policies were enacted even before American
women were granted the right to vote. Banned from electoral
politics, they turned their energies to creating huge,
nation-spanning federations of local women's clubs, which
collaborated with reform-minded professional women to spur
legislative action across the country.
Blending original historical research with political analysis,
Skocpol shows how governmental institutions, electoral rules,
political parties, and earlier public policies combined to
determine both the opportunities and the limits within which social
policies were devised and changed by reformers and politically
active social groups over the course of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries.
By examining afresh the institutional, cultural, and
organizational forces that have shaped U.S. social policies in the
past, "Protecting Soldiers and Mothers" challenges us to think in
new ways about what might be possible in the American future.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!