University of Zagreb Faculty of Law, Study centre for Social Work
Doi
Abstract
U ovom radu autor analizira koncept i razvitak države blagostanja u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama u XX. stoljeću i njene diskriminatorne elemente prema afroameričkoj rasnoj manjini. Upravo rasno pitanje autor vidi kao osnovni činilac da je država blagostanja u SAD-u manje izdašna od samog njenog nastanka do danas. Različite faze njenog razvoja od Progresivne ere,
preko New Deal-a, do Velikog društva, karakterizirali su zakonski ili institucionalni modeli isključivanja afroameričke manjine iz socijalnih programa, koji su nerijetko bili plod kompromisa liberalnih reformatora s konzervativnim dijelovima društva, posebice na segregacionističkom jugu. Od mirovina za majke, do AFDC programa koristili su se različiti konstrukti poput »prikladnog doma« i »dostojnog roditelja« putem kojih bi se smanjio broj Afroamerikanki kao korisnica socijalnih naknada. U konačnom, konzervativni obračun s državom blagostanja koji će rezultirati ukidanjem AFDC programa i njegovom zamjenom daleko manje izdašnim, radno orijentiranim TANF-om koji je promovirao individualnu odgovornost – imao je također rasni podkontekst jer je AFDC povezivan s kreiranim stereotipom »Kraljice blagostanja« (eng. Welfare Queen) – samohrane Afroamerikanke koja živi zloupotrebljavajući javne resurse.The author examines the concept, growth, and discriminatory aspects of the welfare state development in the United States of America in the 20th century concerning the African-American racial minority. According to him, the primary cause of the US welfare state’s decline in generosity from its founding to the present is the racial issue. Legal or institutional models of the exclusion of African-American users of social programs characterized different phases of its development, from the Progressive Era through the New Deal to the Great Society. These models were frequently the outcome of compromises between liberal reformers and conservative parts of society, especially in the segregationist South. From mothers’ pensions to the AFDC program, various constructions such as “adequate home” and “worthy parent” were used to reduce the number of African-American women receiving welfare payments. The conservative attack on the welfare state, which led to the elimination of the AFDC program and its replacement with a significantly less generous, work-oriented TANF that encouraged personal accountability had a racial undertone associated with the created stereotype of the Welfare Queen, a single African-American woman who lives by abusing public resources
