| The Segregated Origins of Social Security: African Americans and the Welfare State Contributor(s): Poole, Mary (Author) |
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ISBN: 0807856886 ISBN-13: 9780807856888 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press OUR PRICE: $35.63 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 2006 Annotation: Poole challenges that basic assumption that the relationship between welfare and racial inequality is a fight between liberal and conservative forces. Reconstructing the behind-the-scenes politicking that gave birth to the 1935 Social Security Act, Poole demonstrates that segregation was built into the very foundation of the welfare state because white policy makers--both liberal and conservative--shared an interest in preserving white race privilege. She argues that the liberal framers of the Act elevated the status of Unemployment Insurance and Social Security--and the white workers that they were designed to serve--by differentiating them from welfare programs, which served black workers. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 20th Century - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Political Science | Public Policy - Social Security |
| Dewey: 368.400 |
| LCCN: 2005034985 |
| Physical Information: 0.65" H x 6.72" W x 9.2" (0.90 lbs) 272 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Chronological Period - 1930's - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The relationship between welfare and racial inequality has long been understood as a fight between liberal and conservative forces. In The Segregated Origins of Social Security, Mary Poole challenges that basic assumption. Meticulously reconstructing the behind-the-scenes politicking that gave birth to the 1935 Social Security Act, Poole demonstrates that segregation was built into the very foundation of the welfare state because white policy makers--both liberal and conservative--shared an interest in preserving white race privilege. Although northern white liberals were theoretically sympathetic to the plight of African Americans, Poole says, their primary aim was to save the American economy by salvaging the pride of America's "essential" white male industrial workers. The liberal framers of the Social Security Act elevated the status of Unemployment Insurance and Social Security--and the white workers they were designed to serve--by differentiating them from welfare programs, which served black workers. Revising the standard story of the racialized politics of Roosevelt's New Deal, Poole's arguments also reshape our understanding of the role of public policy in race relations in the twentieth century, laying bare the assumptions that must be challenged if we hope to put an end to racial inequality in the twenty-first. |
Contributor Bio(s): Poole, Mary: - Mary Poole teaches history at Prescott College in Arizona. She previously served as an analyst with the Washington State Senate, where she drafted the budget for state and federal welfare programs. |
