Customer Reviews

Social Welfare and Individual Responsibility (For and Against)

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David Schmidtz and Robert E. Goodin present a point-counterpoint discussion of the role of government in social welfare programs. This book explains the basic disagreements underlying the social welfare debate. David Schmidtz reasonably presents the conservative argument, but does not address what to do with people who truly cannot contribute to the economy. Goodin stays more clearly on topic, particularly when dismantling arguments for "self-reliance," but is less persuasive when he discusses the fate of displaced workers. Schmidtz is willing to accept more people suffering today as the price of progress. However, his argument is weakened by his use of out-dated statistics, which cast a shadow on his other assertions. Goodin prefers to sacrifice some progress to help those who are suffering today. Although neither writer anticipated the recent economic boom, which exposes flaws in both arguments, we [...] still recommend this valuable book as a serious study of social policy.