Age, Class, Politics, and the Welfare State

Age, Class, Politics, and the Welfare State PDF Author: Fred C. Pampel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521372237
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
This analysis of the growth of welfare spending examines the relative impact of class and status groups versus demographic composition and political structures. Special attention is given to the role of the aged as representative of the importance of ascription and middle-class groups in welfare growth, and to the effect of welfare spending on income inequality. Aggregate cross-national data from the UN, ILO, and the World Bank are analyzed and the conclusion is drawn that a large aged population, especially in combination with democratic political processes, is a direct and crucial influence on the level of welfare spending.

Age, Class, Politics, and the Welfare State

Age, Class, Politics, and the Welfare State PDF Author: Fred C. Pampel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521372237
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
This analysis of the growth of welfare spending examines the relative impact of class and status groups versus demographic composition and political structures. Special attention is given to the role of the aged as representative of the importance of ascription and middle-class groups in welfare growth, and to the effect of welfare spending on income inequality. Aggregate cross-national data from the UN, ILO, and the World Bank are analyzed and the conclusion is drawn that a large aged population, especially in combination with democratic political processes, is a direct and crucial influence on the level of welfare spending.

The Transformation of Old Age Security

The Transformation of Old Age Security PDF Author: Jill Quadagno
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226699233
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Why did the United States lag behind Germany, Britain, and Sweden in adopting a national plan for the elderly? When the Social Security Act was finally enacted in 1935, why did it depend on a class-based double standard? Why is old age welfare in the United States still less comprehensive than its European counterparts? In this sophisticated analytical chronicle of one hundred years of American welfare history, Jill Quadagno explores the curious birth of old age assistance in the United States. Grounded in historical research and informed by social science theory, the study reveals how public assistance grew from colonial-era poor laws, locally financed and administered, into a massive federal bureaucracy.

Welfare as We Knew it

Welfare as We Knew it PDF Author: Charles Noble
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195113373
Category : Public welfare
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Compared to other rich Western democracies, the United States historically has done less to help its citizens adapt to the uncertainties of life in a market economy. Nor does the immediate future seem to promise anything different. In Welfare As We Know It, Charles Noble offers a groundbreaking explanation of why America is so different, arguing that deeply rooted political factors, not public opinion, have limited what social reformers have been able to accomplish.

Age in the Welfare State

Age in the Welfare State PDF Author: Julia Lynch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139454951
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
This book asks why some countries devote the lion's share of their social policy resources to the elderly, while others have a more balanced repertoire of social spending. Far from being the outcome of demands for welfare spending by powerful age-based groups in society, the 'age' of welfare is an unintended consequence of the way that social programs are set up. The way that politicians use welfare state spending to compete for votes, along either programmatic or particularistic lines, locks these early institutional choices into place. So while society is changing - aging, divorcing, moving in and out of the labor force over the life course in new ways - social policies do not evolve to catch up. The result, in occupational welfare states like Italy, the United States, and Japan, is social spending that favors the elderly and leaves working-aged adults and children largely to fend for themselves.

Modern Welfare States

Modern Welfare States PDF Author: Eric S. Einhorn
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Modern Welfare States analyzes the political, economic, and social challenges facing three small, affluent, industrialized democracies: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The emphasis is contemporary, but the analysis covers political history, governmental institutions, policy making, parties, interest groups, political socialization and political culture. Advanced comparative politics and public policy researchers, readers interested in modern Scandinavia, or anyone interested in economic and political issues will find Modern Welfare States a source of stimulating ideas. The focus upon transfer payments, social welfare policy, economic planning, labor market measures, industrial relations, and measures to promote economic and industrial democracy comprise what the authors call the Scandinavian model. This model is the main source of foreign interest in Scandinavian politics, contemporary history, and social science. The comparative and interdisciplinary focus with Scandinavia (upon three countries, rather than a single one) sharpen the book's theme and, thus, will appeal to a broader audience than a single-country study.

Life Cycle Risks and the Politics of the Welfare State

Life Cycle Risks and the Politics of the Welfare State PDF Author: Carsten Jensen
Publisher: Aarhus Universitetsforlag
ISBN: 8771849998
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
Life Cycle Risks and the Politics of the Welfare State presents the dual risk model of the welfare state. Previous research in the field has predominantly studied the role of modernization and the associated labor market risks; this book gives equal weight to a different class of social risks, namely those related to the life cycle. Labor market and life cycle risks each have profound, but distinct consequences for the political process of the welfare state, including public opinion formation, party competition, and public policy-making. The dual risk model helps us to understand why some social programs are prioritized over others in terms of political attention and public spending - and how this prioritization leads to mounting economic inequalities in modern-day societies.

A Social Revolution

A Social Revolution PDF Author: Kevan Harris
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520280814
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
For decades, political observers and pundits have characterized the Islamic Republic of Iran as an ideologically rigid state on the verge of collapse, exclusively connected to a narrow social base. In A Social Revolution, Kevan Harris convincingly demonstrates how they are wrong. Previous studies ignore the forceful consequences of three decades of social change following the 1979 revolution. Today, more people in the country are connected to welfare and social policy institutions than to any other form of state organization. In fact, much of Iran’s current political turbulence is the result of the success of these social welfare programs, which have created newly educated and mobilized social classes advocating for change. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted in Iran between 2006 and 2011, Harris shows how the revolutionary regime endured though the expansion of health, education, and aid programs that have both embedded the state in everyday life and empowered its challengers. This first serious book on the social policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran opens a new line of inquiry into the study of welfare states in countries where they are often overlooked or ignored.

The Welfare State

The Welfare State PDF Author: David Garland
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199672660
Category : POLITICAL SCIENCE
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
This 'Very Short Introduction' discusses the necessity of welfare states in modern capitalist societies. Situating social policy in an historical, sociological, and comparative perspective, David Garland brings a new understanding to familiar debates, policies, and institutions.

Remaking America

Remaking America PDF Author: Joe Soss
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610445104
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Over the past three decades, the contours of American social, economic, and political life have changed dramatically. The post-war patterns of broadly distributed economic growth have given way to stark inequalities of income and wealth, the GOP and its allies have gained power and shifted U.S. politics rightward, and the role of government in the lives of Americans has changed fundamentally. Remaking America explores how these trends are related, investigating the complex interactions of economics, politics, and public policy. Remaking America explains how the broad restructuring of government policy has both reflected and propelled major shifts in the character of inequality and democracy in the United States. The contributors explore how recent political and policy changes affect not just the social standing of Americans but also the character of democratic citizenship in the United States today. Lawrence Jacobs shows how partisan politics, public opinion, and interest groups have shaped the evolution of Medicare, but also how Medicare itself restructured health politics in America. Kimberly Morgan explains how highly visible tax policies created an opportunity for conservatives to lead a grassroots tax revolt that ultimately eroded of the revenues needed for social-welfare programs. Deborah Stone explores how new policies have redefined participation in the labor force—as opposed to fulfilling family or civic obligations—as the central criterion of citizenship. Frances Fox Piven explains how low-income women remain creative and vital political actors in an era in which welfare programs increasingly subject them to stringent behavioral requirements and monitoring. Joshua Guetzkow and Bruce Western document the rise of mass incarceration in America and illuminate its unhealthy effects on state social-policy efforts and the civic status of African-American men. For many disadvantaged Americans who used to look to government as a source of opportunity and security, the state has become increasingly paternalistic and punitive. Far from standing alone, their experience reflects a broader set of political victories and policy revolutions that have fundamentally altered American democracy and society. Empirically grounded and theoretically informed, Remaking America connects the dots to provide insight into the remarkable social and political changes of the last three decades.

Social Policy in the United States

Social Policy in the United States PDF Author: Theda Skocpol
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691037851
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Reforming health care, revamping the welfare system, preserving or cutting Social Security, creating employment programs for displaced employees, and revising U.S. social programs to help working parents with children - all of these endeavors and more are part of ongoing national debates about the future of social policy in the United States. In this wide-ranging collection of essays, renowned social scientist Theda Skocpol shows how historical understanding, centered on U.S. governmental institutions and shifting political alliances, can illuminate the limits and possibilities of American social policymaking both past and present.