Table Of ContentImproving Poor People
Improving Poor People
THE WELFARE STATE, THE “UNDERCLASS,”
AND URBAN SCHOOLS AS HISTORY
Michael B. Katz
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright(cid:211) 1995byPrincetonUniversityPress
PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet,
Princeton,NewJersey08540
IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress,Chichester,
WestSussex
AllRightsReserved
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Katz,MichaelB.,1939–
Improvingpoorpeople:thewelfarestate,the“underclass,”
andurbanschoolsashistory/MichaelB.Katz.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-691-02994-6(alk.paper)
1.Publicwelfare—UnitedStates—History.
2.Urbanpoor—UnitedStates—History.3.Urbanschools—
UnitedStates—History.4.Socialhistory.5.Socialpolicy.I.Title.
HV91.K348 1995
362.5¢0973—dc20 94-31111
ThisbookhasbeencomposedinPalatino
PrincetonUniversityPressbooksareprintedon
acid-freepaperandmeettheguidelinesforpermanence
anddurabilityoftheCommitteeonProduction
GuidelinesforBookLongevityofthe
CouncilonLibraryResources
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
For my graduate students,
PAST AND PRESENT
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER ONE. The Welfare State 19
CHAPTER TWO. The “Underclass” 60
CHAPTER THREE. Urban Schools 99
CHAPTER FOUR. Surviving Poverty 144
Index 173
Acknowledgments
THISBOOKdrawsonalmostthirtyyearsofwork.InthattimeIhave
acquired many intellectual andpersonal debts.Here, I willacknowl-
edge only some of the proximate ones immediately relevant to this
book.
Chapter 1 draws on my earlier work on the history of welfare. A
somewhatdifferentversionwaswrittenforaseriesofconferenceson
comparative welfare history held at the Werner Reimers Stiftung in
BadHomburg,Germany,whichprovidedgeneroussupport,andwill
be published in a book that I have coedited with Christoph Sachsse,
The Mixed Economy of Welfare:Private/Public Relations in England, Ger-
many, and theUnited Statesfrom the1870s tothe1930s.Iwanttothank
boththeStiftungandtheparticipantsintheconferencefortheirhelp-
fulcomments.
Anearlyversionofchapter2,whichdrawsonmyworkontheintel-
lectualhistoryofresponsestopoverty,waswrittenforthecentennial
of the Henry Street Settlement in New York. I appreciate the honor
conferred by the invitation to lecture at the centennial celebration of
an institution with such a rich legacy. My work on poverty was im-
measurably enriched by my participation as project archivist in the
workoftheSocialScienceResearchCouncil’sCommitteeforResearch
ontheUrban Underclass,andIespeciallywanttothankthecommit-
tee’sexcellentstaff—MarthaGephart,Robert Pearson,RaquelOvryn
Rivera,AliceO’Connor—fortheircourtesyandfortheeducationthey
provided.
Aportionofchapter3waspublishedinTeachersCollegeRecord(fall
1992) as “Chicago School Reform as History” and is used with the
permission of the journal. The chapter also includes adaptations of
earlieressaysontheoriginsofpubliceducation.MyworkonChicago
school reform has been conductedin collaboration with two marvel-
ousandcreative colleagues,MichelleFineandElaineSimon,andmy
ideas on the subjectderive in large part from our work together and
ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
from conversations with them.Aportion of the chapter adaptssome
of our article in Catalyst, the journal of Chicago school reform. Our
work started during my year asaVisitingFellow at the RussellSage
Foundation, which provided the time, encouragement, and stimula-
tiontolaunchtheproject.Theprojecthasbeensupportedgenerously
by the Spencer Foundation. InChicago,manypeople haveshownus
great courtesy, answering our endless questions, providing back-
ground material, giving us precious time. Entering the educational
reform community there has been one of the unexpected and great
joysoftheproject.
Chapter 4 began as a working paper for the Russell Sage Founda-
tion.MydebttotheFoundation,especiallyitspresident,EricWanner,
isvery great. AsomewhatdifferentversionwaspublishedinArnold
R.HirschandRaymondA.Mohl,eds.,UrbanPolicyinTwentieth-Cen-
tury America (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1993)
and is used with the permission of the press. A grant from the Re-
search Foundation of the University of Pennsylvania made possible
themicrofilmingofthecaserecordsonwhichthediscussionisbased.
Three people read the introduction to this book and offered de-
tailed,constructiveadvicewhenIwasflounderingwithitsorganiza-
tionandcontent.Mygratitudetowardthemisgreat.TheyareMichael
Frisch,VivianaZelizer,andMikeRose.MikeRose’swonderfulbook,
Lives on the Boundary, gave me the inspiration and courage to try to
mixabitofautobiographywithmoreconventionalwritingabouthis-
tory.IalsowanttothankthetworeadersofthismanuscriptforPrince-
ton University Pressfor their constructive, insightful comments.The
editorialstaffofPrincetonUniversityPressonceagainhasbeenajoy
to work with. My thanks go especially to Lauren Osborne and Beth
Gianfagna.CindyCrumrinehasagainproved amodelcopyeditor.
Duringnearlythirtyyearsofteaching,Ihavehadtheextraordinary
fortune to work with a succession of exceptional graduate students.
They have been stimulating and enjoyable intellectual companions,
andIalwayshavelearnedfromthem.Someofthemhavebecomemy
good friends. This book has a subtext directed to them and, I hope,
theirsuccessors.
x
Description:"There are places where history feels irrelevant, and America's inner cities are among them," acknowledges Michael Katz, in expressing the tensions between activism and scholarship. But this major historian of urban poverty realizes that the pain in these cities has its origins in the American past.
