Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States [Paperback]

James W. Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2006

Today Europeans see their strong welfare states as necessary to counter the worst features of unrestrained capitalism. They pay high taxes to support generous social benefits. Americans, to the contrary, have been conditioned to shudder at the very idea of a welfare state, upholding instead a laissez-faire faith in market solutions to social problems. They pay low taxes and have few tax-subsidized benefits.

In this far-ranging study, James W. Russell shows how and why these different models of social and welfare policy developed. He examines how Europe and the United States have handled differently, and with different consequences, such common social problems as poverty, inequality, unemployment, family support, health care provision, ethnic and racial conflict, and crime. Ultimately, Russell demonstrates that the different European and American social policy orientations have produced different social ways of life, ways of life that are now in contention for the future of western societies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a wonderful book: erudite and sophisticated, yet lucid and to the point. Jim Russell offers us a sweeping portrait of the development of social policy in Europe and America and helps us to understand not only the differences between the European and American welfare state, but why these differences are so important. (Piven, Frances Fox )

Russell's tools are clear writing, tight argumentation, and impeccable logic. He uses them to calmly and surgically dismantle the myth of American superiority as he explains how and why Americans receive far fewer social welfare benefits than their European counterparts. A real eye-opener. (Levon Chorbajian )

James Russell restores my faith in sociology as the best line of inquiry into nagging political questions that too often get assigned to narrow-minded economists. We need books like this to combat academic provincialism as much as to correct social inequality. (John R. MacArthur )

In this earnest, constructive book, Russell provides a systematic sketch of the way Europeans and Americans conceive of socail welfare and deliver it in different ways. Recommended. (Choice )

Scholars of comparative social policy often include a chapter on the USA to show how far it has to go before it could be regarded as having a welfare state. In this closely argued, detailed and meticulous book Russell compares the development of social policies in the USA and in European states, pointing out areas where there are significant differences of approach but also those where one has borrowed from another. The strong historical and philosophical basis for Russell's analysis makes this a novel, engaging and challenging addition to the comparative literature. (Gary Craig )

About the Author

James W. Russell is the Connecticut State University Professor of Sociology at Eastern Connectictut State. He is the author of five other books, including, Societies and Social Life: An Introduction to Sociology, third ed. (Sloan Publishing, 2006), After the Fifth Sun: Class and Race in North America (Prentice Hall, 1994), and Modes of Production in World History (Routledge, 1989). Additionally, Russell has contributed articles and op-ed pieces to a number of magazines and newspapers: among them, The Nation, The Progressive, Monthly Review, The Hartford Courant, The Portland Oregonian, and The New York Times.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (September 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742546934
• ISBN-13: 978-0742546936
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,093,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James W. Russell was born in New York and grew up in Oklahoma. Active in the 1960s civil rights and antiwar movements, he was the first editor of New Left Notes, the national newspaper of Students for a Democratic Society. He received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin and has taught at universities in San Francisco, Texas, Oregon, Mexico City, and Connecticut. Currently he teaches sociology and directs the Latin American Studies Program at Eastern Connecticut State University. From 1990 to 1992 he was a Fulbright Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City. In 2001 he was named to a five year term as a Fulbright Senior Specialist. He is the author of six books, including Class and Race Formation in North America (University of Toronto Press) and Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States (Rowman and Littlefield) and a number of articles in publications such as Monthly Review, The Nation and The Progressive.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Double Standard-timely treatment of Europe vs. US policies, November 17, 2006

By 

Andrew Young (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States (Paperback)

This is a timely book that compares social policy in European nations with that in the United States. It offers a concise comparison of a number of specific programs, such as health care, education, family support, and income security, showing how citizens of European nations enjoy social support and benefits far beyond those available to many Americans. Double Standard also discusses contrasting historic and philosophical backgrounds to examine why there is a broad consensus across Europe that government has a responsibility to provide extensive economic and social support for all citizens while in the United States the role of government is challenged and curtailed. Double Standard suggests that European social policies provide a higher standard of living than that now maintained by many in the United States. It presents sharp contrasts between Europe and the United States in such indicators of social well being as rates of poverty and incarceration, educational levels, and income distribution.

The author in the end argues that European social policies are based upon a national sense of inclusion and the common good, that they promote such democratic principles as egalitarianism and active participation in civic life, and that they provide a model that the United States would do well to follow. Double Standard provides important information and arguments that should enter into our continuing debate over the role of government and appropriate levels of services that it should provide in the United States

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars eye-opening book, November 16, 2006

By 

Computer Maven (Cambridge, MA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States (Paperback)

James W. Russell's tools are clear writing, tight argumentation, and impecabble logic. He uses them to calmly and surgically dismantle the myth of American superiority as he explains how and why Americans receive far fewer social welfare benefits than their European counterparts. A real eye-opener.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Policy differences with a history, April 14, 2007

By 

Paul Callsen (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States (Paperback)

James Russell's recent book, Double Standard, explores the many and considerable differences in public policies that one finds when comparing those of the United Sates with those of European countries. Dr. Russell traces the development of social, economic and political thought that brings each side of this comparison to the place where we find them today thereby placing current policy in its proper historic context.

This concise overview of historic thought would provide an undergraduate student the broad understanding required to grasp the full importance of the policy comparison and, therefore, makes the book an excellent choice as a text for studies in sociology, economics and political science.

Double Standard clearly demonstrates that the policy differences found between the U.S. and Europe did not originate with the divergence of foreign policy relating to the Middle East.