Welfare in America: How Social Science Fails the Poor

279 Pages·1997·48.523 MB·English

by  William M. Epstein

WELFARE IN AMERICA
CopyrightedMaterial
CopyrightedMaterial
WELFARE IN AMERICA
How Social Science
Fails the Poor
WILLIAM M. EPSTEIN
The University of Wisconsin Press
CopyrightedMaterial
TheUniversityofWisconsinPress
2537DanielsStreet
Madison,Wisconsin53718
3HenriettaStreet
LondonWC2E8LU,England
Copyright©1997
TheBoardofRegentsoftheUniversityofWisconsinSystem
Allrightsreserved
5 4 3 2
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Aportionofchapter5appeared inWilliamM. Epstein,TheDilemmaofAmer
ican Social Welfare (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1993), 122
125. Reprinted by permission ofTransaction Publishers. Copyright© 1993 by
Transaction Publishers; all rights reserved. Aportion ofchapter 6 appeared in
WilliamM. Epstein, TheIllusionofPsychotherapy(NewBrunswick,NJ:Trans
action Publishers, 1995), 56-58. Reprinted by permission ofTransaction Pub
lishers. Copyright©1995 byTransactionPublishers;allrightsreserved.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Epstein,WilliamM., 1944-
WelfareinAmerica: howsocialsciencefailsthepoorI
WilliamM. Epstein.
278 pp. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-299-15590-0(cloth:alk.paper)
ISBN0-299-15594-3 (pbk.:alk. paper)
1.Publicwelfare-UnitedStates-Philosophy. 2.Publicwelfare
Governmentpolicy-UnitedStates. 3.Socialsciences-Philosophy.
4.Poverty-UnitedStates. 5. Socialproblems-UnitedStates.
6. UnitedStates-Socialpolicy. 7.UnitedStates-Economicpolicy.
I.Title.
HV91.E69 1997
361.973-dc21 97-14661
CopyrightedMaterial
My Father
HarryEpstein
1912-1996
CopyrightedMaterial
CopyrightedMaterial
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Absence ofRational Authority 3
1. The Rhetoric ofWelfare 10
2. The Assumptions ofWelfare Reform 37
3. Welfare and Work 74
4. Welfare, Family Structure, and
IntergenerationalDependency 111
5. Reforming Welfare with Work: TrainingPrograms
for Welfare Recipients 141
6. Personal Social Services and Welfare 182
7. Conclusion: Generosity 221
References 237
Index 259
VB
CopyrightedMaterial
CopyrightedMaterial
Acknowledgments
I am very grateful for comments from Ronald A. Farrell, Carol Case,
R. Keith Schwer, Robert Morris, Marvin Bloom, Robert Dippner, David
Stoesz, Gage Chapel, Anthony Grasso, Gerald Rubin, Malcolm Wilson,
Douglas Imig, Colin T. Loader, Chau Kiu Cheung, Karmen Smith, and
Janie Ostlund. The errors that remain are all mine. I also wish to thank
the staffs at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas library, especially its
former dean, MatthewJ. Simon, and at the Library of Congress, one of
the great institutions ofAmerican scholarship. Althoughfrequently criti
cal ofthe work coming out ofthe Institute for Research on Poverty and
those associated withit, this book would not have been possiblewithout
that work. lowe a special intellectual debt to Robert Haveman, Robert
Moffitt, Barbara Wolfe, Robert Plotnick, Irwin Garfinkel, Sheldon Dan
ziger, and their colleagues. Ialso wish to thank the staffatthe University
of Wisconsin Press-their senior editor Rosalie M. Robertson, editor
Raphael Kadushin, and Rozlyn Coleman, their copy editor. Finally, the
manuscript benefited from the careful work of my graduate assistants,
c.
Amy Burger andJennifer Duddy.
IX
CopyrightedMaterial