Much more than a historical look at America's social welfare system, this acclaimed book offers insights into our ambivalent social welfare policy and its impact on specific out-groups--African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, women, and others--that are often overlooked in other texts. In addition to comprehensive coverage of the historical development of the welfare system, author Bruce S. Jansson also analyzes its limits, strengths, and policieshow its evolution and structure compare with systems in other countriesand the effects of policy changes on the future of the social work profession. As they explore Jannson's highly respected text, your students will see how understanding historical events can be powerfully relevant to the study of current social welfare policy and the profession of social work. The book analyzes the evolution of the American welfare state from colonial times to present and places social policy in its political, cultural, and societal context. Using social policy as a catalyst, Jansson invites students to think critically about issues, developments, and policies in prior eras and in contemporary society. He encourages students to become social reformers and to develop their own policy identities.
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Book Description
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About the Author
Dr. Jansson joined the USC faculty in 1973 after working as a community organizer and planner for tenants' rights in the state of Michigan. He has also served as the Moses Distinguished Research Professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center. His diverse scholarly interests include empirical research to examine the policy making and planning processes in social agencies; the procurement of resources for social service agencies; the monitoring function of public agencies; and the history and practice of social welfare policy. He is also the author of another Brooks/Cole text, BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE POLICY ADVOCATE: FROM POLICY PRACTICE TO SOCIAL JUSTICE.
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More About the Author
Bruce S. Jansson interests include empirical research examining the policy making and planning processes in social agencies; the procurement of resources for social service agencies; the monitoring function of public agencies; and the history and practice of social welfare policy. He joined the University of Southern California faculty in 1973 after working in Michigan as a community organizer and planner for tenant rights. He also has served as the Moses Distinguished Research Professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most enjoyable textbook I've ever come across!,
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This review is from: The Reluctant Welfare State: American Social Welfare Policies: Past, Present, and Future (with InfoTrac) (Hardcover)
I was assigned this book for a course I took on social welfare policy (I'm studying for my masters in social work) and actually LOVED reading it. Jansson's writing style is very fluid and engaging, and the material covers issues that I'd wanted to study since I was a freshman in high school but never got to study until now. This was actually a cool read (although, granted, if you're politically conservative, you probably won't be into it like I was), and I recommend it to anyone-- even just for the sake of reading, not just for school.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good introduction, but should never be a sole text,
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This review is from: The Reluctant Welfare State: American Social Welfare Policies: Past, Present, and Future (with InfoTrac) (Hardcover)
I am reading this text for a graduate social policies course, and while I am impresed with the depth of treatment Jansson gives to his area, this book is shaky as a lone text in any course. Chronicling the long, strange, and twisted involvement of the American government in the provision of what is commonly defined as "social welfare" the author takes a strictly chronological approach strongly resembling introductory American history survey courses. While disclosing previously unreleased information on Revolutionary America, the depth and complexity of the New Deal----unarguably American government's most revolutionary and profound social policy involvement in any century, is not given it's proportional treatment. Granted, the premise of his particular book is not exactly a regular part of discussion in most social science courses (including 'liberal' college offerings) neccesitating a start at the begining, but I was left wanting much more. Recognizing the provision of social services has been and will continue to be an inherently politcal concept, something in Jansson's style of writing sounds guarded, as if he is not willing to share all with the reading audience. Considering the critical nature of the subject mater being presented, this is a disappointment because a more substantial and pointed work could accomplish more. America's ambivalent social welfare record makes the history depressing, but we need to understand where we have been in order to accurately chart where the country needs to go. That 1996's intensely punnitative welfare reform legislation was eagerly embraced by leading officials from all parties was only the most reccent mainifestation of the afforementioned love/hate duality. Aid to Families with Dependent Children itself was ironically developed in the 1930's so widowed or single white women COULD stay at home with their children like all 'good' women of the day. Uncoincidentally, politicians began their assault on the program around the time of racial intergration even as enrollment remained predominantely white, the biggest federal expenditures were the armed forces and 'welfare mothers' as a whole were just as hardworking as the general population. Because payments never kept up with cost of living adjustments since the 1960's, the women by very definition had to be hard working in order to survive. This book can be used in a course, but only in conjunction with a work such as Dinitto, emphasizing the inherently political activist underpinings and responsibilities of social policy.
2.0 out of 5 stars
A little biased,
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This review is from: The Reluctant Welfare State: Engaging History to Advance Social Work Practice in Contemporary Society (Hardcover)
This book is very liberal, which I expected from a social work book, but tends to sound biased in its presentation of topics.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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budget resolution, depression winters, congressional conservatism, effective policy advocate, employment outlook, public relief, policy advocacy framework, paradoxical era, primitive welfare state, many policy advocates, formal immigration procedures, many vulnerable populations, stimulus spending, specific vulnerable populations, contemporary social workers, domestic discretionary spending, reluctant welfare state, affluent persons, tenant fanners, social welfare history, specific historical eras Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, African Americans, New Deal, Social Security, World War, Civil War, Supreme Court, Food Stamps, Great Depression, First Americans, Democratic Party, Progressive Era, National Journal, Republican Party, Franklin Roosevelt, Great Society, Native Americans, Jane Addams, New World, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Los Angeles, Harvard University Press, Lyndon Johnson Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
budget resolution, depression winters, congressional conservatism, effective policy advocate, employment outlook, public relief, policy advocacy framework, paradoxical era, primitive welfare state, many policy advocates, formal immigration procedures, many vulnerable populations, stimulus spending, specific vulnerable populations, contemporary social workers, domestic discretionary spending, reluctant welfare state, affluent persons, tenant fanners, social welfare history, specific historical eras Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, African Americans, New Deal, Social Security, World War, Civil War, Supreme Court, Food Stamps, Great Depression, First Americans, Democratic Party, Progressive Era, National Journal, Republican Party, Franklin Roosevelt, Great Society, Native Americans, Jane Addams, New World, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Los Angeles, Harvard University Press, Lyndon Johnson Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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