The Disabled State (Health Society And Policy) [Paperback]

Deborah Stone (Author)

Book Description

Series: Health Society And Policy | Publication Date: January 1, 1984

This is a book about the defining assumptions and assumed definition of the welfare state. It is a work that pulls apart social categories like 'disability' or 'need' and shows how they function politically and where they come from historically. For many years, the welfare state was expanding. In those times, advocates for many new groups of people were able to win through the political process the extension of benefits to their constituents. Definitions of need, worth, and eligibility were changed so that more people became 'entitled' to payments.The opposite trend is in effect now. Most advanced industrial states have experienced some form of fiscal crisis, and their governments are taking a hard look at how they define who is eligible for support. One major category is disability. But who is 'disabled', and who decides that? Though doctors certify disability for the state, Stone argues that 'the concept of disability is fundamentally the result of political conflict about distributive criteria and the appropriate recipients of social aid'. The concept also has a social history and a social context today.Despite the very real stigma of the world 'disabled' in other settings, being 'disabled' for welfare purposes means being morally worthy. Like the 'deserving poor' of English Poor Law, the 'disabled' would work if they could. Isn't disability something that can be measured scientifically and apolitically determined? That argument breaks down in the face of a simple example: blindness. Many blind people can work, yet because of the obviousness of the condition and sympathy it arouses, the 'blind' have always been considered eligible for benefits without question.The concern with 'welfare cheats' is not a new one. The author reaches back several centuries to trace the fascinating history of this and other aspects of welfare policy in Germany, England, and the United States. What she finds are elaborate tests to weed out fraudulent applicants (beggars with faked afflictions) and changing criteria to distinguish the able from the 'disabled'. Author note: Deborah A. Stone is Associate Professor of Political Science a the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is author of "The Limits of Professional Power: National Health Care in the Federal Republic of Germany".

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[T]he author sets out to challenge the fundamental construction of social phenomena." --Social Service Review "One of the most exciting works on the development and character of the welfare state, as well as a profound treatment of the ways in which apparent technical decisions so often reflect changing political values." --Alan Altshulter, Dean, Graduate School of Public Administration, New York University "Deborah Stone demonstrates that disability is a movable social boundary whose limits depend on cultural consensus. Her elegant analysis has important political implications." --Aaron Wildavsky, President, American Political Science Association

From the Publisher

The defining assumptions and assumed definition of the welfare state --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 241 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press (January 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877223629
• ISBN-13: 978-0877223627
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars To us, who are disabled?, November 12, 2003

By 

C. Marcus - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Disabled State (Health Society And Policy) (Paperback)

This text is required reading in the Bryn Mawr College Master's program in Social Work. It is articulate, insightful, in depth, and nuanced. Her analysis covers a great deal of ground: it includes historical, political, and sociological analyses of our concept of the disabled as a category of people entitled to benefits.

I do not see her at all as for or against the disabled. She says, "the very essence of society is providing help to those in need." She explains who we see as disabled, why we do so, and how we identify and validate each category within the broad notion of disabled.

What I particularly enjoyed is her ability to identify similar ways that people have thought about aspects of disability across centuries of history.

Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful text, December 14, 2005

By 

philosopher (hartford, ct, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Disabled State (Health Society And Policy) (Paperback)

This text is very useful for understanding what one might refer to as the social construction of the category of disability. It is not anti-disability in any sense at all. The reviewer who criticized it as such profoundly misunderstands the volume and reads it in what seems to me a perverse way. Any one who wants to understand a public policy issue would be well advised to make use of this book.

2 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "The Disabled State" does not help disabled., July 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Disabled State (Health Society And Policy) (Paperback)

"The Disabled State" was a required text for our English course on Disability Discourses at the University of California, Berkeley.

Two aspects about the text are disturbing, in that they perpetuate ignorance and hostility towards disability, which remain embedded in the minds of American society.

The first problem arises with Ms. Stone's reference to a student with low vision, who helps a completely blind person understand the feel and contour of a statue in a museum: "This is the blind leading the blind." People with low vision are NOT totally blind. Many see well enough to move about with grace, and are quite capable of helping a blind person appreciate the environments of which they encounter.

Secondly, Ms. Stone claims that those living with a disability enjoy a "privileged" station in life, which only exasperates the hatred and intolerance of which the disabled community faces each day.

Disabilityphobic bigots who see the disabled as "targets" will like the author's interpretation. Regan Mason, U C Berkeley, 1999