The state of social welfare : the twentieth century in cross-national review / edited by John Dixon and Robert P. Scheurell.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dixon, John, 1935-

Scheurell, Robert P.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public welfare--Cross-cultural studies.

Public welfare.

Welfare state--Cross-cultural studies.

Welfare state.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

With the end of the 20th century, Dixon and Scheurell decided it was an opportune time to critically assess what governments have achieved with their plethora of public social welfare policies. While Marxist socialists, democratic socialists, social democrats, and reluctant collectivists were all eager, at various times, to construct their vision of the ideal society, the idea of state welfare was slow to take root. As Dixon and Scheurell point out, at the turn of the century, only a handful of industrializing countries were willing to grapple with the problems of poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. Two world wars and the Great Depression of the 1930s, however, sensitized many societies to the human, social, and even political costs of un-met social welfare needs. Thus, the milieu needed for the birth of state welfare came into existence, first in Western Europe, then in Australasia, followed by North and South America and, finally, in parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The state welfare dream was that citizenship would guarantee every individual a secure lifestyle, with a minimum degree of insecurity, and the wherewithal to develop to the greatest possible extent as individuals and as members of society. It is, Dixon and Scheurell argue, the most significant set of social institutions developed in the 20th century. Admittedly, it is one that had within it the seeds of its own potential destruction-the vicious circle of growing welfare dependency, increasing state control, deepening poverty, and the emergence of an intractable underclass-that has legitimized calls for the individualization of the social. Undoubtedly, this collection of essays on key states, charting the rise and fall of state welfare, examines a monumental 20th century event and will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and students involved with social welfare issues, as well as policy makers and concerned citizens.

Contents:

Cover

THE STATE OF SOCIAL WELFARE

Contents

Tables

Preface

Chapter 1 Australia

THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE AUSTRALIAN WELFARE STATE: A RICH WHITE COUNTRY, 1890-1910

Informal Help for the Poor

Wage Regulation as Welfare Provision

The First Welfare Programs

HOW AND WHY SOCIAL POLICY HAS CHANGED OVER THE PAST 100 YEARS

Unique Welfare Arrangements

Failed Social Insurance Proposals

The Beginnings of the Modern Welfare State

Increasing Social Welfare Dependency

Labor Market, Single Parents and Health Care Programs

The Value-Free Welfare State

Funding Retirement

SOCIAL POLICY IN THE 1990s

Programs for the Aged

Privatizing Retirement Provision

Programs for the Disabled People

Programs for the Unemployed

Programs for Single Parents

Programs for Families

EVALUATING THE WELFARE STATE

A Comprehensive Safety Net?

Means-Testing Problems

Low Retirement Incomes

Welfare Outlays as a Cause of Poor Economic Performance

The Benefit System as a Cause of Increasing Dependency

Problems with Immigration

AGENDA FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Will Privatizing Retirement Provision Succeed?

Problems with Health Care

Rewarding Work and Savings

Globalization

Political Support for the Means-Tested System

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

Chapter 2 Brazil

INTRODUCTION

CONSTRUCTION AND EXPANSION OF THE BRAZILIAN WELFARE STATE

THE STRUCTURAL AND DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BRAZILIAN WELFARE SYSTEM

Social Security Provision

Welfare Provision

Health Care Provision

Housing Provision

THE CONSERVATIVE BRAZILIAN WELFARE STATE: OUTCOMES AND LIMITS

REFORMING THE WELFARE STATE IN BRAZIL

The 1980s: The Democratic Reform Agenda for Social Programs

The 1990s: The New Social Reform Agenda.

Economic Adjustment and Reforms: The Paradoxes of Neo-liberal Experimentation

The Welfare System in the Context of Economic Adjustment and Institutional Reforms

The New Strategy for Social Development

The Axles of the Changes

WELFARE STATE AND REFORMS: TOWARD A SET OF SOCIAL POLICIES FOR A NEW GENERATION?

Chapter 3 Canada

EARLY-TWENTIETH-CENTURY CANADA IN CONTEXT

The Political Context

The Economic and Demographic Contexts

The Social Contexts

The Social Gospel Movement

The Women's Movement

Trade Unions

Social Service Work

Social Research, the Urban Reform Movement

SOCIAL POLICIES AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Prisons, Asylums and Hospitals

Children's Legislation

Labor

Canada's Policies Regarding Aboriginal Peoples and Immigration

THE EMERGENCE OF AN INSTITUTIONAL PERIOD OVER THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

THE EMERGENCE OF A POST-INSTITUTIONAL ETHOS IN THE 1990s

MAJOR SOCIAL PROGRAMS IN CANADA

Federal Government Programs

Employment Insurance (EI 1994-)

Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan (CPP/QPP 1966-)

Old Age Security (OAS 1952-)

Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS 1967-)

Spouse's Allowance (SPA 1976-)

Seniors' Benefit (SB 2001-)

Veterans' Pensions (VP 1919-)

War Veterans Allowances (WVA 1930-)

Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP 1998-)

Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB 1998-)

Health Care or "Medicare"

Provincial Programs

Day Care (Various Dates)

Workers' Compensation (WC 1914-)

Social Assistance (SA, Various Years)

Provincial Top-Ups for the Elderly (Various Years)

CONCLUSION: DIRECTIONS FOR TOMORROW

Chapter 4 France

SOCIAL PROTECTION IN THE 1890s

SOCIAL POLICY BEFORE 1944

THE POST-WAR SETTLEMENT

1944-1974: LES TRENTES GLORIEUSES

Family Policy.

Social Exclusion

Financial Control

Decentralization

Alternance Politique

THE POLICY AGENDA FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

ACHIEVEMENTS

Chapter 5 Sweden

NATION-STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN PRE-WELFARE STATE SWEDEN

SWEDISH SOCIAL INSURANCE: FROM CIVIL SOCIETY TO A UNIVERSAL WELFARE STATE

REFORMING WELFARE: 1930s UNTIL YESTERDAY

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE: THE DECENTRALIZED EXCEPTION

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE MATURE WELFARE SYSTEM

CHANGES IN THE WELFARE SYSTEM IN THE 1990S

Active Labor Market Policy

Tax Policy and the Fiscal Crisis of the Welfare State

Pension Reform

Work Injury Insurance

Sickness Insurance

Family Benefits

Local Government Medical and Personal Social Services

THE SWEDISH WELFARE SYSTEM IN THE 1990s: A SUMMARY OF TRENDS

THE CHALLENGES: AMERICAN PRIVATIZATION AND EUROPEAN DECENTRALIZATION

Chapter 6 The United Kingdom

SOCIAL POLICY AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

THE COMING OF THE WELFARE STATE, ACT I: NEW LIBERALISM AND THE LIBERAL REFORMS

The Welfare State: 1914-1939

THE COMING OF THE WELFARE STATE, ACT II: THE WAR, BEVERIDGE AND THE ATTLEE REFORMS

TOWARD A WELFARE CONSENSUS?

THE CHALLENGE FROM THE NEW RIGHT

THE IMPACT OF STATE WELFARE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: A PROVISIONAL ASSESSMENT

The Welfare State and the Economy

The Welfare State and Individual Well-Being

The Welfare State and Equality

The Welfare State and Citizenship

WHICH WAY NEXT? NEW LABOR'S THIRD WAY AND THE WELFARE STATE

Chapter 7 The United States

SOCIAL WELFARE IN THE 1890s: THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

CHILDREN, MOTHERS AND THE RISE OF MATERNALIST SOCIAL POLICY

THE EXPANSION OF INCOME SECURITY FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS

THE CHANGING SOCIAL POLICY MILIEU: ROOSEVELT TO REAGAN.

SOCIAL POLICY AND THE GREAT SOCIETY: THE 1960s

THE REAGAN COUNTERREVOLUTION: THE 1980s

THE 1990s: CLINTON AND BEYOND

THE STATE AND SOCIAL POLICY: FROM THE 1890s TO THE 1990s

THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL POLICY

Chapter 8 Zimbabwe

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Pre-Independence Era: 1900-1979

Personal Social Services

Social Security: Public Assistance

Social Security: Old Age Pension

Social Security: Workmen's Compensation

Post-Independence Era: 1980-1999

Social Security: Social Assistance for the Vulnerable

Social Security: Social Insurance

Social Development Fund

AN EVALUATION

CONCLUSION: SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY AGENDA FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Chapter 9 Social Welfare in Transition: 1900 and 2000

ECONOMICALLY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

The 1890s: The Precursors

Residual Social Welfare

Voluntary, Religious and Private Provision

Local Government Administration

Personal and Family Responsibility

Transition to the Welfare State: 1900-1945

The Welfare State's Golden Years: 1945-1975

The Welfare State in Transition: 1975-2000

Welfare Dependency

Expenditure Retrenchment

Devolution of Public Responsibility

Privatization

Social Welfare in the Twenty-First Century: The Agenda

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The State Welfare Provision: 1930-1980

Social Reform in the 1980s

Retrenchment in the 1990s

REFERENCE

Index

About the Contributors.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9798216018520

9780313010587

9786610315000

9781280315008

1280315008

9780313010583

0313010587

OCLC:

55470165