Protecting soldiers and mothers : the political origins of social policy in the United States / Theda Skocpol.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Skocpol, Theda.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public welfare--United States--History--19th century.

Public welfare.

Public welfare--United States--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 714p. ) ill., facsims., maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1992.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

It is widely held that the United States lagged behind Western Europe in developing modern social policies. This historical analysis, however, shows that the United States actually pioneered generous social spending for many of its elderly, disabled and dependent citizens.

It is widely held that the United States lagged behind the countries of Western Europe in developing modern social policies. But, as Theda Skocpol shows in this new historical analysis, the United States actually pioneered generous social spending for many of its elderly, disabled and dependent citizens.;Theda Skocpol's previous works include the prize-winning "States and Social Revolutions".

Contents:

Frontmatter

PREFACE

CONTENTS

TABLES

ILLUSTRATIONS

Introduction Understanding the Origins of Modern Social Provision in the United States

Part I A Precocious Social Spending Regime

Chapter 1 Patronage Democracy and Distributive Public Policies in the Nineteenth Century

Chapter 2 Public Aid for the Worthy Many: The Expansion of Benefits for Veterans of the Civil War

Part II The Failure of a Paternalist Welfare State

Introduction

Chapter 3 Reformist Professionals as Advocates of Workingmen's Insurance

Chapter 4 Help for the "Army of Labor"? Trade Unions and Social Legislation

Chapter 5 Progressive Era Politics and the Defeat of Social Policies for Workingmen and the Elderly

Part III Foundations for a Maternalist Welfare State?

Chapter 6 Expanding the Separate Sphere: Women's Civic Action and Political Reforms in the Early Twentieth Century

Chapter 7 Safeguarding the "Mothers of the Race": Protective Legislation for Women Workers

Chapter 8 An Unusual Victory for Public Benefits: The "Wildfire Spread" of Mothers' Pensions

Chapter 9 Statebuilding for Mothers and Babies: The Children's Bureau and the Sheppard-Towner Act

Conclusion America's First Modern Social Policies and Their Legacies

Appendix 1 Percentages of the Elderly in the States and the District of Columbia Receiving Civil War Pensions in I9 I O

Appendix 2 Endorsements of Mothers' Pensions by Women's Groups: Sources for Table 9 and Figure 27

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 557-693) and index.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Award of Phi Beta Kappa; Woodrow Wilson Award of the American Political Science Association.

ISBN:

9780674043725

0674043723

OCLC:

923110502