The Welfare State and Social Work

Josefina Figueira-McDonough, Ph.D., is professor emerita of Social Work and of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. Trained in social work and sociology at the University of Michigan, she has taught in both fields at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Vanderbilt University. She has lectured and/or conducted research in Puerto Rico, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Mozambique, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Ireland. Her work on social justice has focused on deviance and control, the ecology of poverty, policy outcomes, community analysis and curricula. This research has been supported by federal, state, and private grants and disseminated in social science as well as in social work journals. She is presently on the board of two international and interdisciplinary journals, Social Intervention and Social Compass, and is a member of the book committee of the National Association of Social Workers. Her most recent books include Community Analysis and Praxis: Toward a Grounded Civil Society (Brunner-Routledge, 2001), Serviço Social: Profissão e Identidade, with A. Negreiros, A. Martins and B. Henriques (Veras Editora, 2000), and Women at the Margins: Neglect, Punishment and Resistance, edited with Rosemary Sarri (Howard Press, 2002).

• IntroductionPART I. MAKING SENSE OF SOCIAL JUSTICECh 1: Justice as a Value in Social WorkA Schizophrenic Profession?Rescuing a Profession That Betrayed Its MissionGil on Social Determinism and Constructing a Just SocietyPiven and Cloward on Welfare, Control, and DisruptionGilbert on Balanced Reform From WithinJordan on Struggling for Justice and Social WorkWakefield on Justice as the Organizing Principle of Social WorkComparing Concepts of Social WorkCh 2: Understanding Social Justice in Liberal DemocraciesLiberal-Democratic Society and its ContradictionsTheories of Social Justice for Liberal DemocraciesFreedom Versus Democracy: Priorities in the United StatesCh 3: Evaluating Distributive Justice in the United StatesExpanding the Welfare State ConceptDimensions of Distributive JusticeHow does the United States Rate on Distributive Justice?PART II. INTERPRETING WELFARE IN THE UNITED STATES: BEYOND EXCEPTIONALISMBuilding an Analytic FrameworkCh 4: The Fragile Roots of Welfare in the United States: From Colony to the Gilded EraThe Legacy of the English Poor Laws and the Shaping of a National Ideology in the Eighteenth CenturyThe Nineteenth Century: Seismic Changes and Moral CertaintiesCh 5: The Ambiguous Ancestry of Welfare and Social Work in the First Half of the Twentieth CenturyThe Progressive EraSocial Work, 1900-1920Social Regression, Disaster, and the Birth of the Welfare State During the Interwar YearsSocial Work in the Twenties and ThirtiesCh 6: From the Aftermath of World War II to the Great SocietyHolding Back the New DealSocial Work in the Postwar PeriodThe Promise of the Great SocietySocial Work in the SixtiesCh 7: The Weakening of the Welfare State Gains SpeedThe Seventies: Expansion and StagnationSocial Work in the SeventiesReagan and the Precipitous Undoing of Public AssistanceSocial Work in a Regressive EraCh 8: The End of the Millennium and the Demise of Entitlement to Public AssistanceA Centrist President in a Conservative GovernmentSocial Work at the End of the MillenniumPART III. THE LESSER AMERICANS: HISTORICAL LEGACIESThe Story of a Limited DemocracyCh 9: Women and the Welfare StateThe Preindustrial PeriodEconomic and Social RestructuringThe Place of Women in the New DealCh 10: Welfare Through the Color LensAfrican AmericansMexican AmericansNative AmericansGenocide, Manifest Destiny, and Contradictory Federal PolicyPART IV. CONTEMPORARY DIRECTIONS OF THE LIBERAL WELFARE STATECh 11: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - IPositive Outcomes, Concerns, and QuestionsDevolution: Unaccountability, Creativity, and State Budgets CrisisPromoting the Work Ethic and Self-SufficiencyToward a Nuclear Family StateCh 12: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - IIBarriers and ExclusionTANF ReauthorizationCh 13: Social Security and the Push Toward PrivatizationThe Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003Social Insurance Financing and Alternative ProposalsFurther Thoughts About PrivatizationPART V. CONTEMPORARY DIRECTIONS OF WELFARE STATES IN DEVELOPED NATIONSCh 14: Types of Welfare States, Different Outcomes, and Future NeedsDifferent Logics of Welfare StatesAlternative Institutional DesignsComparing Welfare TypesHistorical SynopsesAchievements of the Welfare RegimesCh 15: The Future of Welfare State in Postindustrial SocietiesDemographic and Economic ShiftsThe Three Pillars of WelfarePART VI. LOCATING AND COUNTERACTING SOURCES OF INJUSTICECh 16: Framing Policy PracticeSocial Work′s Commitment to Justice for the Twenty-First CenturyHow Do Professional Statements Fit With Social Work Theories of Justice?What Do Social Justice Theories Add?What Guidelines Can Be Derived From the Historical Analysis?IdeologyPolicy Decision MakingSummaryCh 17: Policy PracticeBuilding Influence From the Ground UpInfluence in Policy MakingShaping Policy ImplementationJudicial Policy MakingInterdependence Among Types of Policy PracticeConclusion