Policy Gambit: Conservative Think Tanks Take on the Welfare State

Conservative policy institutes have reevaluated their position regarding welfare and begun to present proposals to change social welfare policy. Instrumental in this development are the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, conservative think tanks which have developed projects for the purpose of making social policy more consonant with conservative philosophy. If progressive organizations are to reassert their role in the policy process, they will have to use some of the aggressive techniques pioneered by the conservative think tanks

Defeminizing Social Policy

Social policy initiatives by the evangelical right and neoconservative movements are reversing liberal programs that have benefited women. This represents an attempt to defeminize social policy. Essential to this transformation are theoretical interpretations of economics and sociology which, combined with religious conservatism, portend the restoration of patriarchal culture. The ideology guiding the defeminizing of social policy is so pervasive as to suggest that regaining ground lost will be exceedingly difficult for those promoting social services for women

A New Paradigm for Social Welfare

The American welfare state has been contained by several developments that have influenced social policy: the traditionalist movement, neoliberal ideology, and the budget deficit. These are evident in the minimal welfare reform of the Family Support Act of 1988. A new paradigm for organizing thinking about American social welfare is proposed around themes that have become central to discussions of social policy: productivity, reciprocity, community, and privatization. In order to become a viable institution again, social welfare policy should emphasize specific themes: voluntarization, access to services, social choice, social control, social obligation, transitional benefits, community enterprise, and national service

Are Payday Loans Really Evil? Controversy, Regulation, and Innovation in the Secondary Financial Services Market

Stagnant income and persistent debt have induced low- and middle-income households to rely on alternative financial services (AFS): buy-here-pay-here auto loans, check-cashers, payday loans, auto title loans, rent-to-own furniture and appliances, and pawnshops. A secondary financial services market has evolved to serve the secondary labor market, replete with trade associations as well as state and federal regulators. Mainstream financial institutions have marketed innovations, such as reloadable debit cards, to appeal to low- and middle-income consumers. High fees and interest rates of AFS products have fueled a volatile debate about the future of the secondary financial services market, with options including prohibition, regulation, and inclusion

Review of \u3cem\u3eDeclining Fortunes: The Withering of the American Dream.\u3c/em\u3e Katherine S. Newman. Reviewed by David Stoesz, San Diego State University.

Anthropology, arguably the most American of the social sciences, is also the most poignant. In Declining Fortunes, Katherine Newman adeptly applies her anthropological skills to a most American topic: the prospects of the baby boom generation. Drawing on interviews with residents of Pleasanton, a prosperous suburban community in the Northeast, Newman traces the generational identity of what could be the most influential cohort in the nation\u27s history. But fortune has eluded the baby boomers. In her exploration of the context, the consequences, and the rationalization of generational failure, Newman integrates demographic and economic evidence with her interviews producing an account that is as satisfying as it is troubling

Proactive Rhetoric

The American welfare state is coming apart. In The Rhetoric of Reaction, Albert 0. Hirschman explained how conservatives had used three themes to counter liberal expansion of social and economic rights: perversity, futility, and jeopardy. This essay expands Hirschman\u27s formulation retrospectively by identifying the liberal antecedents---adequacy, equality, and regulation-that prompted the recent conservative assault on the American welfare state. Further, the author presents three themes to thwart the conservative critique of welfare-mobility, empowerment, and restructuring. As illustrative of proactive rhetoric , these themes are proposed to guide future social policy in the United States

The Welfare Crisis of Central America

The crisis of Central America, fundamentally due to social injustice, is exacerbated as the Reagan administration seeks a military polution to political problems of the region. A humane approach to alleviating the devastating poverty of Central America necessitates reconciling two strategies of national development: a techno-economic strategy and a sociopolitical strategy. Both strategies leave important issues unresolved. The prospect of improving conditions for the people of Central America-diminishes as the region is increasingly militarized

From Social Work to Human Services

Social work has forfeited its professional mandate and should be replaced by human services. In three traditional areas of responsibility-child welfare, public welfare, and mental health-social work has failed to meet its societal obligation. Meanwhile the profession has used postmodern thought to justify a focus on internal constituency groups. A template for professional education in human services is proposed

The Excluded: An Estimate of the Consequences of Denying Social Security to Agricultural and Domestic Workers

The Social Security Act of 1935 explicitly denied Social Security coverage to several categories of workers, including those employed in domestic and agricultural positions. This exclusion disproportionately affected minorities of color, particularly those living in Southern states. This paper elaborates the context of that decision and presents an estimate of the decision’s cost in denied benefits. It then examines the far-reaching implications of the exclusion, demonstrating that the decision has been replicated repeatedly in U.S. social policy