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And the poor get welfare : the ethics of poverty in the United States / Warren R. Copeland.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Copeland, Warren R.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Public welfare--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.
- Public welfare.
- Public welfare--Moral and ethical aspects.
- United States.
- Poverty--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.
- Poverty.
- Poverty--Moral and ethical aspects.
- Social ethics--United States.
- Social ethics.
- Physical Description:
- 210 pages ; 23 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Nashville : Abingdon Press in cooperation with the Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy, Washington, D.C., [1994]
- Summary:
- Cries for the elimination of welfare rise at the very time that the amount of poverty in the United States grows. And the Poor Get Welfare is an ethical and theological analysis of both of these realities. It sets the context for this analysis by surveying the current situation and the histories of poverty and welfare as public policy issues in the United States.
- The heart of Copeland's ethical analysis is the critical reading of the very different approaches to poverty and welfare of four recent influential writers on poverty and welfare: Charles Murray, Lisbeth Schorr, Lawrence Mead, and Frances Fox Piven. In each case, he describes the author's basic policy position but also asks how each views individuality, community, worth, motivation, and hope.
- On the basis of the answers to these ethical questions, Copeland identifies theological parallels to each of the four positions. He then offers his own contemporary public theology rooted in process theology, but expressed in everyday language about his own experience. He uses this theology to explore the deeper meaning of individuality, community, worth, motivation, and hope.
- In the final three chapters, this volume proposes fuller understandings of poverty and of welfare and then returns to contemporary public policy and proposes principles for reform. All of this is based upon Copeland's contemporary public theology and the ethical insights drawn from it.
- Contents:
- Chapter 1 And the Poor Get Poorer (and Younger) 11
- Chapter 2 Nothing New: The History of Poverty as a Public Issue in the United States 25
- Chapter 3 How the Poor Came to Get Welfare: The History of Welfare Policy in the United States 47
- Chapter 4 The Virtue of Being Poor but Independent: Charles Murray 61
- Chapter 5 Developing Competent People: Lisbeth Schorr 75
- Chapter 6 Behaving Like a Good Poor Citizen: Lawrence Mead 89
- Chapter 7 Struggling Against an Unjust System: Frances Fox Piven 103
- Chapter 8 World Views, Theologies, and Social Ethics 117
- Chapter 9 A Theology of Freedom and Community 129
- Chapter 10 Understanding the Human Meaning of Poverty: William Julius Wilson and Beyond 145
- Chapter 11 The Welfare Reform Wars: Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Beyond 163
- Chapter 12 Where Do We Go from Here? Bill Clinton and Beyond 179.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references.
- ISBN:
- 0687013860
- OCLC:
- 30029547
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