Inventing the needy : gender and the politics of welfare in Hungary / Lynne Haney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Haney, Lynne A. (Lynne Allison), 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public welfare--Hungary--History.

Public welfare.

Women--Hungary--Social conditions.

Women.

Hungary--Social conditions--1945-1989.

Hungary.

Hungary--Social conditions--1989-.

Hungary--Social policy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (353 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Gender and the politics of welfare in Hungary

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Inventing the Needy offers a powerful, innovative analysis of welfare policies and practices in Hungary from 1948 to the last decade of the twentieth century. Using a compelling mix of archival, interview, and ethnographic data, Lynne Haney shows that three distinct welfare regimes succeeded one another during that period and that they were based on divergent conceptions of need. The welfare society of 1948-1968 targeted social institutions, the maternalist welfare state of 1968-1985 targeted social groups, and the liberal welfare state of 1985-1996 targeted impoverished individuals. Because they reflected contrasting conceptions of gender and of state-recognized identities, these three regimes resulted in dramatically different lived experiences of welfare. Haney's approach bridges the gaps in scholarship that frequently separate past and present, ideology and reality, and state policies and local practices. A wealth of case histories gleaned from the archives of welfare institutions brings to life the interactions between caseworkers and clients and the ways they changed over time. In one of her most provocative findings, Haney argues that female clients' ability to use the state to protect themselves in everyday life diminished over the fifty-year period. As the welfare system moved away from linking entitlement to clients' social contributions and toward their material deprivation, the welfare system, and those associated with it, became increasingly stigmatized and pathologized. With its focus on shifting inventions of the needy, this broad historical ethnography brings new insights to the study of welfare state theory and politics.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Conceptualizing the Welfare State

Part I. The Welfare Society, 1948-1968

Part II. The Maternalist Welfare State, 1968-1985

Part III. The Liberal Welfare State, 1985-1996

Conclusion: Welfare Lessons from East to West

Methodological Appendix: Historical Excavation in an Era of Censorship

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612762581

9780520231016

0520231015

9780520936102

0520936108

9781282762589

1282762583

9781597346856

1597346853

OCLC:

475928214