Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States

202 Pages·2014·1.6 MB·English

by  James W. Russell

Praisefor
DoubleStandard
“Double Standard is accessible, responsible, historically-minded, and classi-
callyinformedcomparativesocialpolicyandpoliticalsociology.Onecanonly
hope others take Russell’s example of how to write and do the social sci-
ences.”
—RobertJ.S.Ross,ClarkUniversity
“DoubleStandardremainsaneye-openerandrequiredtextforallthosecom-
mittedtoself-educationandtheeducationofothersinthepoliticaleconomyof
everydaylife.”
—LevonChorbajian,UniversityofMassachusetts
“In this closelyargued,detailed,and meticulous book,Russell comparesthe
development of social policies in the United States and in European states,
pointingoutareaswheretherearesignificantdifferencesofapproachbutalso
thosewhereonehasborrowedfromanother.Thestronghistoricalandphilo-
sophicalbasisforRussell’sanalysiscontinuestomakethisanovel,engaging,
andchallengingadditiontothecomparativeliteratureandanimportantsource
bookforscholarsoftheU.S.welfaresystem.”
—GaryCraig,ProfessorEmeritus,UniversityofHull,UnitedKingdom
“Inaneraofrisingincomeinequalityandneoliberalpolicysolutions,Russell
provides a timely, thoughtful analysis of policy differences in the United
StatesandEurope.Bytheendofthisbookitisclearhowvariousapproaches
to social policy are possible but carry ‘dramatically different consequences’
forindividualsandsociety.”
—JenniferHook,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
PraiseforPreviousEditions
“JamesRussellrestoresmyfaithinsociologyasthebestlineofinquiryinto
naggingpoliticalquestionsthattoooftengetassignedtonarrow-mindedecon-
omists.Weneedbookslikethistocombatacademicprovincialismasmuchas
tocorrectsocialinequality.”
—JohnR.MacArthur,PublisherofHarper’sMagazineand
authorofTheSellingofFreeTrade
“It reads like an introductory textbook for students or an accessible social
policybookforthepoliticallyinterested....Byintroducingthereadertothe
fundamentalpoliticalconceptionsandmainsocialpolicyareas,thebookpro-
videsahelpfulintroductionforthosenotfamiliarwithsocialpolicythinking
anddevelopment.”
—JournalofSocialPolicy

Double Standard
Social Policy in Europe
and the United States
Third Edition
James W. Russell
ROWMAN&LITTLEFIELD
Lanham•Boulder •NewYork•Toronto•Plymouth,UK
PublishedbyRowman&Littlefield
4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706
www.rowman.com
10ThornburyRoad,PlymouthPL67PP,UnitedKingdom
Copyright©2015byJamesW.Russell
Firstedition2006.Secondedition2011.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany
electronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrievalsystems,
withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote
passagesinareview.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Russell,JamesW.,1944–
Doublestandard:socialpolicyinEuropeandtheUnitedStates/JamesW.Russell.—Thirdedition.
pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-4422-3024-8(cloth:alk.paper)—ISBN978-1-4422-3025-5(pbk.:alk.paper)—
ISBN978-1-4422-3026-2(electronic)
1.Socialpolicy—Comparativemethod.2.Europe—Socialpolicy.3.UnitedStates—Socialpolicy.4.
Socialpolicy—History.I.Title.
HN28.R872014
320.6094—dc23
2014009878
TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican
NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Contents
NotetotheThirdEdition vii
Preface ix
1 Introduction:FromSocialProblemstoSocialPolicies 1
2 TheSocialWorldviewofMedievalChristianityasPrologue 7
3 SecularTransitionsandAssumptions 13
4 Marx,Durkheim,andtheLimitsofLaissez-FaireCapitalism 25
5 FromTheorytoIdeology 33
6 OriginsofSocialPolicyinEuropeandtheUnitedStates 41
7 AlternativeApproachestoSocialPolicy 51
8 SocialCohesionandInequality 61
9 Poverty 75
10 Unemployment:TheSwordofDamocles 85
11 SupportforChildRaising 101
12 SupportfortheAged 113
13 HealthCare 121
14 EthnicandRacialPolicy 133
15 IncarcerationasSocialPolicy 149
16 Summary:PrinciplesforProgressiveSocialPolicy 153
Afterword:SocialPolicyandtheGreatRecession 159
Notes 163
v
vi Contents
Bibliography 175
Index 183
AbouttheAuthor 189
Note to the Third Edition
The first edition came out in late 2006, before the 2008 presidential cam-
paign in the United States, the beginning of the Great Recession, and the
passageofhealthreform.Allthreeboreonthecentralthesesandconcernsof
thebook.
European social versus American free-market capitalism emerged as a
background theme of the presidential campaign. The Republicans accused
the Democrats of having a socialist agenda, by which they meant adopting
European-stylereforms.HendrikHertzberg,writinginthe NewYorker,cap-
tured the Republican insinuations: “The dystopia [John McCain] abhors is
not some North Korean–style totalitarian ant heap but, rather, the gentle
social democracies across the Atlantic, where, in return for higher taxes and
without any diminution of civil liberty, people buy themselves excellent
public education, anxiety-free health care, and decent public transporta-
tion.”1 But rather than defending the idea that there might be something
useful to be learned from European experiences with similar problems, the
Democratsdefensivelydeniedanysuchintentions.Inakindof “Who,me?”
reaction, they denied being Europhiles and certainly denied being guilty of
beingsocialists.
DemocratsknewthepoliticallessonsofAmericanexceptionalism.Never
admittolookingtoothercountriesforideasonhowtoreformyourown.Itis
an attitude that has cost the United States dearly in social progress. It relies
on keeping substantial parts of the public believing that they have the best
possiblelivingstandardintheworldwhentheydonot.
At the same time, those who work in policy studies routinely look to the
experiencesofothercountriesforideas.Theyknowthatothercountrieshave
moresuccessfullyaddressedanumberofcentralsocialproblemsthatcontin-
uetoplaguetheUnitedStates.Thisbookisanexample.
vii
viii NotetotheThirdEdition
When the Great Recession hit (see the afterword for this edition), a few
writers, such as Paul Krugman in the New York Times, looked at how Euro-
peans were coping compared with Americans, given the Europeans’ much
moredevelopedsocialsafetynets.Butmostwritersdidnot.
The contentious national debate over health care could not avoid some
references to European and Canadian experiences at successfully insuring
their whole populations at lower costs. But as the legislation developed,
American exceptionalism seemed to dominate discourse: Americans would
solve—ornotsolve—theproblemintheirownway.Theresultsofthateffort
are describedandanalyzedin chapter 13. Sufficeit to say fornowthat even
whenhealthreformisfullyimplemented,theAmericansystemwillstillpale
in comparison with European ones in terms of coverage, costs, and out-
comes.
ForthisthirdeditionIhavecontinuedtheanalysesoftheAffordableCare
ActasitbegantobeimplementedinOctober2013andthecontinuinglong-
term social effects of the 2008 recession in the United States and Europe;
added a number of additional topics, including paid vacation differences
between Europe and the United States; and updated the book with the latest
availablestatisticalinformation.
Preface
Americans have been trained to shudder at the very idea of a welfare state.
Asindividualists,theyfindthethoughtofacceptingpublicassistancerepug-
nant, a sign of failure. Europeans, on the contrary, view a welfare state as
being a benefit to all members of society. Middle- as well as lower-class
persons benefit from free health care, and everyone benefits if the welfare
stateensuressocialcohesionandpeaceinthepopulation.TheUSabhorrence
of developing an extensive welfare state is directly related to its having the
highestmurderandcrimeratesintheWesternworld.Insteadofinvestingin
awelfarestate,itinvestsinaprisonsystem,withtheresultbeingthatitnow
has the highest incarceration rate in the world. European social programs
provide safety nets so that downturns in economic life, such as unemploy-
ment,orinphysicallife,suchasaccidentsandsickness,arenoteconomically
ruinous. But if Europe finds virtue in government programs providing basic
social security, the United States finds it in the opposite: insecurity. It has a
system of minimal social safety guards, seeming to believe that the fear of
economicruinationpropelseconomicproductivityfromitscitizens.
OneoftheconsequencesoftheAmericancultureofeconomicandsocial
insecurity is a national obsession with getting rich quick through winning
lotteries or the hope that opportunity will come knocking in the form of
gettingrichthroughasuccessfullawsuit.Theheightenedlitigiousnessofthe
UnitedStatesresultsinitshavingthehighestpercapitanumberoflawyersin
the developed world.1 Becoming rich, aside from dramatically improving
materiallivingstandards,isthesurestwaytoescapethecountry’somnipres-
enteconomicandsocialinsecurity.
At the same time Americans, and those attracted to the American model
inEurope,pointtothedoublefactsthattheUSeconomyhasbeengrowingat
a faster rate than the European economy and that it has a lower rate of
ix