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Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
This book is dedicated to Betty Ann

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Brief Contents

Preface xiii
An Invitation to Students Using This Text xv
Acknowledgments xvi

PART 1  Becoming a Policy Advocate for Vulnerable Populations


CHAPTER 1 The Symbiotic and Uneasy Relationship: Clients, Social Workers, and the Welfare State 2
CHAPTER 2 Making the American Welfare State More Humane—Past, Present, and Future 27

PART 2  Social Policy in a Developing Nation


CHAPTER 3 Fashioning a New Society in the Wilderness 64

PART 3  Social Policy during a Transition to an Industrial Nation


CHAPTER 4 Social Welfare Policy in the 19th Century: 1789–1902 98
CHAPTER 5 Social Reform in the Progressive Era 157

PART 4  Social Policy in a Relatively Liberal Era


CHAPTER 6 Social Policy to Address the Worst Economic Catastrophe in U.S. History 204
CHAPTER 7 The Era of Federal Social Services: The New Frontier and the Great Society 260
CHAPTER 8 The Paradoxical Era: 1968–1980 301

PART 5  Social Policy in a Period of Conservative Backlash


CHAPTER 9 The Conservative Counterrevolution in the Era of Reagan and G. H. W. Bush 334

PART 6  The Period of Gridlock and Extreme Inequality


CHAPTER 10 Reluctance Illustrated: Policy Uncertainty during the Presidency of Bill Clinton 378
CHAPTER 11 George W. Bush’s Quest for Realignment 418
CHAPTER 12 Would President Barack Obama Reverse The Cycle of History? 450
CHAPTER 13 President Donald Trump: Populist or Conservative? 507
CHAPTER 14 Why Has the American Welfare State Been Reluctant—And What Can We Do about It? 548
Name Index 590
Subject Index 594

iv

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Contents
Preface xiii
An Invitation to Students Using This Text xv
Acknowledgments xvi

PART 1    Becoming a Policy Advocate for Vulnerable Populations

CHAPTER 1  The Symbiotic and Uneasy Relationship: Clients, Social Workers,


and the Welfare State 2
LO 1-1 Analyze the Evolution of the American LO 1-9 Enrich Professional Practice by Placing it in
Welfare State 3 a Policy Context 10
LO 1-2 Discuss the Need for an American LO 1-10 Understand Policy-Sensitive Practice 11
Welfare State 3 LO 1-11 Trace the Gradual Evolution of the
LO 1-3 Understand Why Vulnerable Populations American Welfare State 13
Especially Need a Welfare State 5 LO 1-12 Recognize Polarization and Gridlock in the
LO 1-4 Move from our Imaginary Society to a Last 35 Years 15
Welfare State 7 LO 1-13 Develop Personal and Professional Policy
LO 1-5 Learn the Varieties of Social Policies 7 Identities 21
LO 1-6 Explore the Purpose of Social Policies 8 LO 1-14 Seek Common Ground while Honoring
LO 1-7 Understand the Grouping or Clustering of the Ethical Code of the National Association of
Social Policies and Social Problems 9 Social Workers 23
LO 1-8 Identify Policies that Shape Implementation LO 1-15 Treat Each Other with Civility 24
and Funding Systems 10

CHAPTER 2  Making the American Welfare State More Humane—Past, Present,


and Future 27
LO 2-1 Think about the Two-Sided Context: LO 2-5  Use Ethical Reasoning to Decide What Is
Opportunities and Constraints 28 Wrong and What Is Right 40
The Context 28 LO 2-6 Determine the Ethical Merit of Specific
Diagnosing the Context in Legislative Settings and Policies with Reference to Outcomes 41
the Nation 28 Using SNAP to Illustrate Ethical Reasoning With Respect
Three Kinds of Policy Advocacy 32 to Outcomes 41
LO 2-2 Link Micro Policy Advocacy to the American LO 2-7 Determine the Ethical Merit of Specific
Welfare State 37 Policies by Using First Ethical Principles 43
LO 2-3 Link Micro Policy Advocacy to Macro Policy LO 2-8 Analyze How Culture, Self-Interest, and
Advocacy 37 Politics Shape Ethical Reasoning 44
LO 2-4 Examine Policy Practice and Policy LO 2-9 Explore Practical Considerations and
Advocacy 38 Ethical Choices 44
Who Engaged—and Engages—in Policy Practice and LO 2-10 Use an Eclectic Approach to Ethical
Policy Advocacy? 38 Reasoning 45
v

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
vi Contents

LO 2-11 Examine the Special Ethical Case of LO 2-12 Analyze the Clash Between Liberals and
“Social Justice” 47 Conservatives Over Social Justice 54
Social Injustice Through the Violation of Civil Rights of LO 2-13 Analyze a Relativist View of Social Justice 55
Vulnerable Populations 49 Some Complexities in Thinking About Social Justice 56
Social Injustice Through the Violation of Life Conditions
LO 2-14 Navigate the Social Welfare State to Seek
of Vulnerable Populations 49
Reforms 57
Social Injustice as Illustrated by Denial of Opportunities
Engaging in Policy Advocacy 57
to Vulnerable Populations 51
Looking to the Future 61
The Challenge of Reducing Social Injustice Over Time 52

PART 2    Social Policy in a Developing Nation

CHAPTER 3  Fashioning a New Society in the Wilderness 64


LO 3-1 Understand Feudal Inheritance 65 Discrimination Against White Poor People 84
LO 3-2 Analyze the Colonists 66 LO 3-7 Identify Ominous Signs 84
Patterns of Continuity 66 LO 3-8 Identify Precursors to a Reluctant
Patterns of Change 68 Welfare State 86
LO 3-3 Analyze the American Revolution LO 3-9 Link the Colonial Society to Contemporary
as a Catalyst 70 America 86
From Revolution to Limited Government 71 What We can Learn from Policy Practitioners and
Legitimating Limited Government 73 Advocates of the Colonial Era 86
LO 3-4 Analyze Positive Responses to Social Need 74 What We can Learn from the Persistence of Unmet Needs
and Policy Issues During the Colonial Era 87
LO 3-5 Examine Punitive Policies 75
What We can Learn from Failed Policy Strategies of the
LO 3-6 Examine the Oppression of Vulnerable
Colonial Era 87
Populations 76
What We can Learn from Promising Strategies of the
Oppression of Women 76 Colonial Era 89
Oppression of Native Americans 78 What We can Learn from the Colonial Era about the
Oppression of African Slaves 81 Structure of the American Welfare State 90

PART 3    Social Policy during a Transition to an Industrial Nation

CHAPTER 4  Social Welfare Policy in the 19th Century: 1789–1902 98


LO 4-1 Identify Social Realities in the New Nation 100 Oppression of Irish Immigrants 120
LO 4-2 Understand Immigration and LO 4-8 Examine Precursors of the Reluctant
Urbanization 101 Welfare State 121
LO 4-3 Discuss a Moral Crusade 103 Social Policy at the Frontier 122
LO 4-4 Analyze Social Reform Policies 105 Land Policy 122
Temperance 105 LO 4-9 Discuss the Conquest and Oppression of
Antipauperism Strategies 106 Native Americans and Spanish-Speaking Persons 123
LO 4-5 Identify Character-Building Institutions 109 Finding Laborers 126
LO 4-6 Identify Opportunity-Enhancing LO 4-10 Understand the Appraisal of Frontier
Policies 114 Policy 127
Radical Movements: Conspicuous by Their LO 4-11 Review the Civil War and the Oppression of
Absence 115 Freed Slaves 129
LO 4-7 Analyze the Oppression of Vulnerable Origins of the Civil War 129
Populations or Outgroups in the Early LO 4-12 Explore Social Policy during the War 132
Republic 116 Analyze the Plight of Freed Slaves 135
Oppression of Women 116

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Contents vii

LO 4-13 Recognize the Betrayal of Women during LO 4-16 Link the Period of Lost Opportunities to
and after the Civil War 136 Contemporary Society 144
LO 4-14 Recognize the Oppression of What We Can Learn from Policy Practitioners and
Workers during the Early Stages of American Advocates of the 19th Century 145
Industrialization 137 What We Can Learn from the Persistence of Unmet Needs
Industrialization before the Civil War 137 and Policy Issues during the Early Republic* 146
Why Industrialization Took Off and Rapidly What We Can Learn from Failed Policy Strategies of the
Accelerated 138 Early Republic 148
The Victimization of Workers 139 What We Can Learn from Promising Policy Strategies of
the Early Republic 148
LO 4-15 Analyze the Inadequacy of a Primitive
What We Can Learn from the Early Republic about the
Welfare State 142
Structure of the American Welfare State 149

CHAPTER 5  Social Reform in the Progressive Era 157


LO 5-1 Understand Realities in the Early Stages of The Oppression of Women 181
Industrial Society 159 The Oppression of African Americans 183
LO 5-2 Discuss the Genesis of Reform 163 The Oppression of Asian Immigrants 184
Catalytic Events 164 The Oppression of Spanish-Speaking Persons 185
Intellectual Ferment and Aroused Public Opinion 165 LO 5-9 Understand the Alliance of Progressivism
The Specter of Social Unrest 167 and Racism 186
LO 5-3 Identify Regulatory Reforms in the LO 5-10 Analyze the Imposition of a Racist Policy of
Progressive Era 167 Immigration 187
LO 5-4 Assess the Limited Social Programs of the LO 5-11 Discuss the Resilience of Jane Addams and
Progressive Era 168 Her Allies 188
Limited Policy Reforms for Women and Children 168 LO 5-12 Understand the Emergence of Social
Private Philanthropy 170 Work 188
Limited Reforms for Workers and Persons with LO 5-13 Analyze the Evolution of the Reluctant
Mental Illness 171 Welfare State 192
LO 5-5 Analyze Health Reforms within a Flawed LO 5-14 Link the Progressive Era to Contemporary
Capitalistic Model 172 Society 193
LO 5-6 Critique the Limited Nature of Progressives’ What We Can Learn from Policy Advocates of the
Social Reforms 172 Progressive Era 193
Cultural and Policy Realities that Limited Reform 173 What We Can Learn from the Persistence of Unmet Needs
Political Realities that Limited Reform 175 and Policy Issues during the Progressive Era 193
Women and Children: Seizing the Opportunity 176 What We Can Learn from Failed Policy Strategies of the
Progressive Era 196
LO 5-7 Evaluate Social Reformers and the Bull
What We Can Learn from Promising Strategies of the
Moose Campaign of 1912 177
Progressive Era 196
LO 5-8 Recognize the Oppression of Vulnerable What We Can Learn from the Progressive Era about the
Populations or Outgroups in the Progressive Era 181 Structure of the American Welfare State 196

PART 4    Social Policy in a Relatively Liberal Era

CHAPTER 6  Social Policy to Address the Worst Economic Catastrophe


in U.S. History 204
LO 6-1 Understand the Turn toward Conservatism LO 6-5 Evaluate the Era of Emergency Reforms:
in the 1920s 206 1933–1936 211
LO 6-2 Analyze Why the Depression Began 207 The Conflicted Context: Forces that Promoted Major
LO 6-3 Assess the Period of Denial: 1929–1933 209 Reforms 211
LO 6-4 Trace the Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt The Conflicted Context: Forces that Limited Roosevelt’s
as a National Figure 210 Initial Policy Initiatives 213
Battling for Resources as a Prelude to Reform 215

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
viii Contents

Using the Funds to Finance Emergency Relief 215 Understand Why Roosevelt Prioritized Military
Moving from Cash Assistance to Creating Work Preparedness 235
Programs 216 Understand the Eclipse of Work Programs 235
Developing a Work Relief Program for Complex LO 6-9 Review the Oppression of Vulnerable
Projects 218 Populations in the New Deal 236
Trying to End the Great Depression Itself 219
The Oppression of Women 236
Identify Conservative Pressures on Roosevelt between
The Oppression of Latinos 237
1934 and 1936 221
The Oppression of African Americans 238
LO 6-6 Identify Pivotal New Deal Victories: The Oppression of Asian Americans 239
1934–1936 223
LO 6-10 Analyze the Broadened Role of Social
The Social Security Act 224 Work in the New Deal 243
Protecting Workers’ Right to Strike 227
LO 6-11 Place the New Deal in the Context of the
The Works Progress Administration and the National
Reluctant Welfare State 245
Youth Administration 230
LO 6-12 Link the New Deal to Contemporary
Backsliding in the Supreme Court? 231
Society 247
LO 6-7 Identify Roosevelt’s Landslide Victory Over
What We Can Learn from Policy Advocates of the
Republicans in 1936 231 New Deal 247
LO 6-8 Assess the Era of Stalemate: What We Can Llearn from the Persistence of Unmet
1937–1941 231 Needs and Policy Issues during the New Deal 252
The Disillusionment of the Middle Class 231 What We Can Learn from Failed Policy Strategies
Fears that Roosevelt Sought Too Much Power 232 of the New Deal 253
Reform Fatigue 232 What We Can Learn from Promising Strategies
Several Surprising Policy Successes in 1937 of the New Deal 253
and 1938 232 What We Can Learn from the New Deal about the
Analyze Conservatives’ Ascendance 233 Structure of the American Welfare State 253

CHAPTER 7  The Era of Federal Social Services: The New Frontier and the Great Society 260
The Turn toward Reform 261 LO 7-11 Analyze the Oppression of Vulnerable
LO 7-1 Discuss Domestic Policy during the Populations in the 1960s 282
Kennedy Administration 263 The Oppression of Women 282
LO 7-2 Analyze Poverty and Civil Rights 265 The Oppression of Gay Men and Lesbians 284
The Oppression of Latinos 286
LO 7-3 Identify Failures and Success during the
The Oppression of Native Americans 286
Course of Reform 267
The Oppression of Asian Americans 287
Kennedy and Johnson: A Study in Contrasts 269
The Oppression of People of Color in the Urban
LO 7-4 Evaluate Johnson’s Policy Gluttony 271 Ghettoes 288
Johnson’s Fateful First Choice 271 LO 7-12 Discuss Social Work in
Johnson’s Fateful Second Choice 271 the 1960s 288
Johnson’s Fateful Third Choice 272
LO 7-13 Understand the Evolution of the Reluctant
LO 7-5 Assess Civil Rights Legislation in 1964 Welfare State 289
and 1965 272 LO 7-14 Link the Great Society to Contemporary
Earl Warren and the Supreme Court Buttress Johnson’s Society 291
Domestic Agenda 273 What We Can Learn from Policy Advocates of the Great
LO 7-6 Analyze Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Society 291
Americans Act in 1965 274 What We Can Learn from the Persistence of Unmet Needs
LO 7-7 Analyze Federal Aid to Education in 1965 276 and Policy Issues During the Great Society 292
LO 7-8 Review the War on Poverty in 1964 and What We Can Learn from Failed Policy Strategies of the
Succeeding Years 276 Great Society 294
LO 7-9 Discuss Welfare Reform in 1967 277
What We Can Learn from Promising Strategies of the
Great Society 294
LO 7-10 Discuss Food Stamps in 1964 278
What We Can Learn from the Great Society about the
The Beleaguered President in a Trap of his Own Making: Structure of the American Welfare State 294
1967–1968 279

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Contents ix

CHAPTER 8  The Paradoxical Era: 1968–1980 301


LO 8-1 Analyze Richard Nixon, Political LO 8-10 Recognize the Oppression of Vulnerable
Opportunist 302 Populations in the 1970s 318
Nixon’s Strategy: Floating Coalitions and Oppression of Women: The Women’s Movement 318
Outbidding 303 The Mobilization of New Sets of Vulnerable
From Strategy to Policy 305 Populations 319
LO 8-2 Understand Welfare Policy 305 The 1970s as a Revolution in Rights 320
The Beginnings of Backlash 320
LO 8-3 Understand Social Security 306
LO 8-4 Understand Revenue Sharing and Social LO 8-11 Understand the Evolution of the Reluctant
Services 307 Welfare State 321
LO 8-5 Discuss Civil Rights 308 LO 8-12 Link the Paradoxical Era to Contemporary
Society 321
LO 8-6 Evaluate Health Policy and Other
Legislation 310 What We Can Learn from Policy Advocates of the
Paradoxical Era 321
Housing Legislation 310
What We Can Learn from the Persistence of Unmet Needs
LO 8-7 Critique Nixon’s Shift from Reform to and Policy Issues during the Paradoxical Era 323
Conservatism 310 What We Can Learn from Failed Policy Strategies of the
LO 8-8 Review the Brief Reign of Gerald Ford 315 Paradoxical Era 324
LO 8-9 Assess the Hidden Social Spending What We Can Learn from Promising Strategies of the
Revolution of the 1970s 315 Paradoxical Era 327
Why was the Spending Revolution Hidden? 317 What We Can Learn from the Paradoxical Era about the
Structure of the American Welfare State 327

PART 5    Social Policy in a Period of Conservative Backlash

CHAPTER 9  
The Conservative Counterrevolution in the Era of Reagan and G. H. W. Bush 334
LO 9-1 Evaluate the Ascendancy of The Oppression of Poor People and Persons of Color 355
Conservatism 335 The Oppression of Immigrants 357
The Legitimization of Conservatism 337 The Oppression of Gay Men and Lesbians 358
Ronald Reagan as Catalyst 338 The Oppression of People with Disabilities 359
The Oppression of Poor Children 360
LO 9-2 Analyze Reagan’s Emergence as a
The Oppression of Aging Americans 361
National Hero 339
The Oppression of Homeless Persons 362
LO 9-3 Review Supply-Side Economics: A Positive
Way to Be Negative 339 LO 9-14 Discuss the Erosion of Legal Rights 364
LO 9-4 Discuss the Campaign of 1980 341 LO 9-15 Discuss the Social Work Profession 365
LO 9-5 Assess the Reagan Policy Blitzkrieg 342 LO 9-16 Understand the Evolution of the Reluctant
Welfare State 366
LO 9-6 Analyze the Triumph of Conservatism 344
LO 9-17 Link the Conservative Counterrevolution to
LO 9-7 Review OBRA, Tax Reductions, and
Contemporary Society 367
Deregulation 345
What We Can Learn from Policy Advocates of the
LO 9-8 Discuss Reagan’s Loss of Momentum 346
Conservative Counterrevolution 367
LO 9-9 Evaluate Social Security, Job Training, and
What We Can Learn from the Persistence of Unmet
Medicare 347
Needs and Policy Issues during the Conservative
LO 9-10 Assess Moral Reforms 350 Counterrevolution 367
LO 9-11 Review the Election of 1984 350 What We Can Learn from Failed Policy Strategies of the
LO 9-12 Analyze Reagan’s Second Term 351 Conservative Counterrevolution 368
LO 9-13 Recognize the Oppression of Vulnerable What We Can Learn from Promising Strategies of the
Populations in the Era of Reagan and G. H. W. Conservative Counterrevolution 369
Bush 353 What We Can Learn from the Conservative
Predictions Come True 353 Counterrevolution about the Structure of the American
The Oppression of Women 354 Welfare State 370

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
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x Contents

PART 6    The Period of Gridlock and Extreme Inequality

CHAPTER 10 Reluctance Illustrated: Policy Uncertainty during the Presidency of Bill Clinton 378
LO 10-1 Discuss the Ascendancy of Bill Clinton 379 LO 10-9 Identify the Oppression of Vulnerable
The Search for the Real Bill Clinton 379 Populations 402
The Search for the New Democrat 380 The Oppression of Women 402
LO 10-2 Review the Presidential Campaign The Oppression of Persons of Color and the Attack
of 1992 382 on Affirmative Action 403
The Oppression of Immigrants 406
Clinton’s Grim Options 383
The Oppression of Children 407
From Social Investment to Deficit Reduction 384
The Oppression of Gay Men and Lesbians 408
Developing an Economic Package 384
LO 10-10 Recognize the Illustration of
LO 10-3 Analyze the Budget Process 385
Reluctance 409
LO 10-4 Assess the Demise of the Stimulus
LO 10-11 Link Uncertainty during the 1990s
Package 387
to Contemporary Society 411
The Gutting of Social Investments 388
What We Can Learn from Policy Advocates
LO 10-5 Discuss the Fight for Health Reform 388 of the 1990s 411
LO 10-6 Analyze Anticrime Legislation 391 What We Can Learn from the Persistence of Unmet Needs
Conservatives Regroup to Restore Republicans’ Power 392 and Policy Issues during the 1990s 411
LO 10-7 Understand How the House Republicans What We Can Learn from Failed Policy Strategies
Took Charge 394 of the 1990s 412
LO 10-8 Analyze the Budget Confrontation
What We Can Learn from Promising Strategies of the
of 1995 396 1990s 414
What We Can Learn from the 1990s about the Structure
Clinton’s Controversial Welfare Reform 397
of the American Welfare State 414
Clinton’s Second Term 398

CHAPTER 11  George W. Bush’s Quest for Realignment 418


LO 11-1 Discuss Bush’s Ambitious Goal 419 LO 11-7 Discuss the Return to Iraq 438
LO 11-2 Review the Presidential Campaign LO 11-8 Analyze Supreme Court Surprises and
of 2000 422 Uncertainties 438
Two Americas 424 LO 11-9 Understand the Botched Response to
Bush’s Domestic Policies 424 Hurricane Katrina 439
LO 11-3 Discuss September 11, 2001 428 LO 11-10 Review the High Stakes for the
Gridlock 429 Congressional Elections of 2006 440
Bush Shifts the Agenda Abroad 431 Securing Some Initial Social Reforms and Oversight 443
LO 11-4 Evaluate the War with Iraq 432 LO 11-11 Evaluate the Supreme Court’s Move to
American Social Welfare Policy Abroad 433 the Right 444
Moving toward the Pivotal 2008 Elections 445
LO 11-5 Critique Bush’s Domestic Agenda in 2003
and 2004 436 LO 11-12 Identify Reluctance Illustrated in the Bush
LO 11-6 Understand the Outcome of the 2004 Administration 446
Election 437 Vulnerable Populations from 2000 to 2018 446

CHAPTER 12  Would President Barack Obama Reverse the Cycle of History? 450
LO 12-1 Analyze the Historic Nature of Barack The Stimulus Plan: —A Social Welfare Program in
Obama’s Presidential Candidacy 451 Disguise 455
LO 12-2 Analyze the Causes of the Great Recession Saving Financial Institutions 458
of 2007 into 2009 452 Obama’s Personal and Political Style 459
LO 12-3 Analyze Obama’s Landslide Election in The Frustrating Battle Against Foreclosures 461
2008 454 Attacking Unemployment 462
Obama’s Foreign Policy 462
LO 12-4 Understand the First Year of Obama’s
Evaluating Obama’s First Year in Office 463
Presidency 455

Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Contents xi

LO 12-5 Identify Major Policy Enactments in The Runaway Victory of the Republicans in 2014 484
Obama’s Second Presidential Year 464 LO 12-10 Evaluate the Most Conservative Supreme
Pivot Point 464 Court in Four Decades 485
The Republicans’ Stroke of Luck 465 LO 12-11 Recognize the Oppression of Vulnerable
Rescuing Health Care Reforms 465 Groups 486
Enacting Bank Regulations and Consumer Protections 467 The Continuing Oppression of Poor People 486
The Great Recession Continues 468 The Continuing Oppression of Women 489
The Education Debate 469 The Continuing Oppression of Immigrants 491
Deferred Reforms 471 The Continuing Oppression of Racial and Ethnic
LO 12-6 Analyze Implications of the Republican Vulnerable Populations 494
Landslide in the Mid-Term Elections of 2010 471 The Continuing Oppression of Populations that are
Another Hidden Stimulus Plan 473 Physically or Mentally Challenged 495
LO 12-7 Understand How the Soaring National Debt The Continuing Oppression of Aging Americans 497
and Annual Budget Deficits Led to Budget Battles The Continuing Oppression of the LGBTQ
in 2011 and 2013 473 Population 498
The Continuing Oppression of Persons with Criminal
LO 12-8 Analyze Obama’s Landslide Reelection
Records 499
in 2012 476
Revisiting the Terms Outgroups and Vulnerable
Understanding Obama’s Use of Electoral Community Populations 500
Organization 477
More Budget Battles 480 LO 12-12 Evaluate Barack Obama’s Presidency 501
LO 12-13 Why Obama Couldn’t Sustain the Nation’s
LO 12-9 Describe Obama’s Policy Agenda
Liberal Direction 502
for 2013 482

CHAPTER 13  President Donald Trump: Populist or Conservative? 507


LO 13-1 Trump Controversy: What is True and What LO 13-9 Winning The Presidential Election 523
is False? 509 LO 13-10 Trump’s Hurdles to being a “Successful”
LO 13-2 Trump’s Early Life 510 President 524
LO 13-3 Early Preparation for a Run for Politics 512 Personal Hurdles 524
LO 13-4 From Fantasy to Reality 513 Hurdles Related to the Republican Party 525
LO 13-5 Tactics During the Presidential Campaign Hurdles Related to the Democratic Party 525
of 2016 513 Hurdles Related to His Base of Support 526
Selling his Brand 514 Governing Hurdles 526
Manipulating the Media 514 LO 13-11 Early Signs that Trump Would Govern
Intimidation and Bullying 514 from the Right 527
Hyperbole and Lying 515 LO 13-12 Analyzing Trump’s Early Policies 529
Diversion and Distraction 516 LO 13-13 Repealing and Replacing the ACA 529
Not Using Evidence-Based Findings 516 LO 13-14 Reforming Immigration Policies 532
Creating Divisions and Enemies 516
LO 13-15 Creating Jobs 535
Appealing to the Base 516
Shifting Blame 516 Revising Trade Treaties 535
Relentless Campaigning 517 Promoting Fossil Fuels and Cutting Environmental
Organizing Effective Campaigns 517 Protections 536
Doubling Down 517 Repairing America’s Infrastructure 537
Rousing Large Crowds of Supporters 517 LO 13-16 Trump’s Budget and Tax Priorities 537
Portraying Himself as Independent from Big Donors 517 LO 13-17 Race and Ideology Polarize the United
Getting Free Media Coverage 518 States 538
Race Baiting and Attacking Other Vulnerable LO 13-18 Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria 540
Populations 518 LO 13-19 Sexual Harassment and Mass Murders 541
Ending Obama’s Legacy 518
LO 13-20 Warning Signs for the Trump
Changing Positions and Policy Priorities 518
Movement 542
LO 13-6 Benefiting from the Context 519 LO 13-21 Social Workers as Policy Advocates 543
LO 13-7 Trump’s Remarkable Ascent 519 LO 13-22 Understand the Evolution of the Reluctant
LO 13-8 Defeating Hillary Clinton 521 Welfare State 543

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xii Contents

LO 13-23 What We Can Learn from Policy Advocates LO 13-25 What We Can Learn from Failed Policy
in the Trump Presidency 543 Strategies of the Trump Presidency 544
LO 13-24 What We Can Learn from the Persistence LO 13-26 What We Can Learn from Promising
of Unmet Needs during the Trump Presidency 544 Strategies of the Trump Presidency 544

CHAPTER 14  Why Has the American Welfare State Been Reluctant—And What Can We
Do about It? 548
LO 14-1 Decide Whether the Contemporary Welfare Key Education Reforms 572
State Is Morally Flawed 549 Key Workplace Reforms 572
Manifestations of Reluctance 549 Key Block Grants 572
Key Economic Reforms 573
LO 14-2 Examine Other Moral Flaws of the American
Policies Germane To Globalization 573
Welfare State 553
Key Housing Reforms 573
Poverty 556
Key Organizational Changes 573
Homelessness 556
Key Policies for Specific Populations 573
Persons Lacking Medical Insurance 557
Key Immigration Policies 573
Youth Who “Graduate” From Foster Care 557
Key Job Training Reforms 573
Assistance to Persons Who Are in Jail or Who Have
Key Drug Policies 573
Returned to the Community 557
Key Tax Expenditures 573
Low Wages 557
Key Family Planning Reforms 573
Feminization of Poverty 557
Legal Status of Immigrants 557 LO 14-10 Critique Conservatives’ Case Against the
Contextual Causes of Reluctance 557 American Welfare State 573
Reducing Social Spending 574
LO 14-3 Analyze Cultural Factors 558
Delegating Policy Responsibilities to State and Local
Problems and Panaceas 558
Government 574
The Misleading Analogy of the Fair Footrace 558
Privatizing Social Services 575
Beliefs about Markets and Government 559
Seeking Nongovernment Substitutes for Publicly Funded
Beliefs about Equality 559
Programs 575
LO 14-4 Discuss Economic Factors 560 Using Deterrence 576
Low Levels of Taxation 560 Relying on Personal Responsibility 577
Military Spending 560 LO 14-11 Evaluate Contextual Factors That Have
LO 14-5 Discuss Institutional Factors 561 Promoted Enactment of Social Reforms 577
Jurisdictional Confusion 561 Where Do We Stand? 581
LO 14-6 Explore Social Factors 561 Standing on the Shoulders of Policy Advocates 581
Racism and Prejudice 561 LO 14-12 Recognize the Journey Toward Policy
LO 14-7 Understand the Sequence of Events 563 Practice and Policy Advocacy 584
The Late Development of the American Welfare State 563 Participating in Social Movements 584
The Military State Precedes the Welfare State 563 Establishing Advocacy Organizations 585
Legal Factors 563 Seeking Social Reforms From Within the
Political Factors 564 Government 585
Educating the Public as a Prelude to Social Reforms 585
LO 14-8 Understand Reluctance as the Outcome of Electing Reform-Oriented Candidates to Office 585
Numerous Factors 567 Influencing Policy From Organizational Settings 586
LO 14-9 Identify Redeeming Moral Features of the Whistleblowing 586
American Welfare State 568
LO 14-13 Understand How to Move Beyond History
Asserting the Ethical Case for the American Welfare to Policy Advocacy in Contemporary Society 586
State 569
Acquiring Policy Advocacy Skills 586
Not Blaming the Welfare State for Things It Cannot Do 570
Leaving A Better Welfare State for Future
Key Mental Health Reforms 571
Generations 587
Key Health Reforms 571
Key Safety Net Reforms 571
Key Civil Rights Reforms 572
Key Child and Family Reforms 572 Name Index 590
Key Regulatory Reforms 572 Subject Index 594

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Preface

I
published the first edition of The Reluctant Welfare meritorious policies of prior eras while not repeating
State in 1988. It was the first analysis of the evolution errors of the past.
of the American welfare state that placed social welfare I’ve used a diversity perspective in this and prior
policy in the broader context of the nation’s politics, cul- editions. I discuss in this edition how members of many
ture, and economics. It discussed the pivotal role of pres- populations have been marginalized in specific histori-
idents. It brought history up to the present. I asked moral cal eras including women; African Americans; Asian
and ethical questions in each chapter, such as whether Americans; older persons; Native Americans; Latinos;
Americans were sufficiently attentive to the needs and children and adolescents; persons with physical and
aspirations of members of specific at-risk populations mental challenges; persons with substance abuse and
and whether the nation sufficiently protected the rights mental health issues; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-
of at-risk populations. More recently, I’ve criticized the gender persons; persons accused of violating laws and
extreme income inequality in the United States that ex- residing in, or released from, correctional institutions;
ceeds levels of 20 other industrialized nations. immigrants; low-income persons; homeless people; and
Every social worker should be versed in social wel- white blue-collar people. I also discuss how members
fare history. It grounds us in the strengths and weak- of these groups have successfully advocated for them-
nesses of the American welfare state. It showcases the selves and with members of other at-risk populations.
work of policy advocates including many social work- I discuss political, economic, and cultural constraints
ers. It gives us insights into specific at-risk popula- that American policy advocates have confronted when
tions, not only how they have been marginalized, but they seek policy reforms. I also discuss political, eco-
how they have empowered themselves. Social welfare nomic, and cultural opportunities that policy advocates
history informs us of many programs and policies in encounter. The thousands of policy achievements in lo-
the American welfare state so that we can inform our cal, state, and federal jurisdictions in American history
clients about their benefits, opportunities, and rights. came from tens of thousands of committed policy advo-
It helps us apply ethical principles to guide profes- cates who helped build a more humane nation.
sional practice by applying standards from the National I present a multi-level advocacy model in Chapter 2
Association of Social Workers (NASW) Social Workers’ that includes micro policy advocacy at the level of indi-
Code of Ethics. viduals, mezzo policy advocacy at the level of commu-
This book contains many inserts that facilitate nities and agencies, and macro policy advocacy at the
these skills by posing specific issues drawn from level of local, state, and federal governments. I refer to
the history of specific eras. These include one titled advocacy at these three levels throughout the book. I’ve
Ethical Analysis of Key Issues and Policies and Crit- augmented my discussion of the presidency of Barack
ical Analysis. It provides a Policy Scoreboard at the Obama in his second term, such as discussing his role
ends of most chapters to summarize the major social in advancing the rights of LGBT people.
policies that constitute the American welfare state. It I discuss in considerable detail the life, candi-
discusses how contemporary Americans can draw on dacy, and presidency of Donald Trump in Chapter 13.

xiii

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xiv Preface

I discuss the ethical challenges that his presidency poses ●●


Analysis of one or more policy failures in specific
for the social work profession. Many of his policies, as historical eras to review the need to be alert to ill-
well as his Tweets and speeches, must be viewed through considered policies in contemporary society.
the lens of the Ethical Code of the National Association ●●
Analysis of policy innovations in specific historical
of Social Workers (NASW) that guides the work of mem- eras that could be revived or expanded in the con-
bers of the social work profession. I discuss ethical issues temporary period.
that are posed by his presidency. I present a framework for ●●
A policy scoreboard that identifies specific poli-
engaging these issues in a civil way while not conceding cies enacted in specific historical eras that have
ground when flagrant violations of this Ethical Code take been transmitted to the contemporary era. A master
place. I discuss the adverse impact of his policy choices policy scoreboard in Chapter 14 contains an overall
on members of vulnerable populations. I ask whether he list of social policies that social workers often en-
betrayed the white blue-collar people who he championed gage in their work as they engage in micro, mezzo,
during his presidential campaign. and macro policy advocacy.
I place historical materials for many of the book’s
chapters on the MindTap, where students can delve
into specific topics that enrich their understanding of
specific eras. They can, for example, read about medi-
eval society to better understand the first colonists that
MindTap-Only Content
came to the United States. They can read in greater de- I have included additional readings for chapters 3,
tail about the plight of emancipated slaves in the wake 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 14 in the MindTap for the
of the Civil War. They can better understand the bud- 9th edition. Content includes discussion of the Civil
get conflicts that took place during the presidency of War and Reconstruction, social policy developments in
Barack Obama. I’ve placed these materials in the Mind- the 1950’s, the Congressional budget battle during Bill
Tap for the 9th edition. Instructors can decide which of Clinton’s presidency, and President Bush’s response to
these materials to assign to students. Hurricane Katrina. Information and examples on how
I discuss how to write policy background papers, to write policy advocacy background documents, op-
letters to the editor, Op-Ed essays, and policy briefs in ed articles, and policy briefs is also in the MindTap
the 9th edition MindTap. These can be used to develop (see Chapter 11). Prompts to access these materials can
policies and points of view that can be transmitted to be found in each relevant chapter.
the mass media as assignments at the end of the course.
I provide samples of each of them.
To facilitate classroom and offsite learning, I’ve in-
cluded links to innovative, easily accessible Web ma-
terials throughout the book. This technology enables
Ancillaries
students to interact with history through an array of To help faculty teach social policy history that links to
visual, audio, and graphic materials. Students can see EPAS standards, I have enlarged and revised the In-
homeless people riding trains during the Great Depres- structor’s Manual Creative Ways to Teach Social Policy
sion, listen to audio interviews with former slaves, view History and Link It to Contemporary Society and the
maps and interactive diagrams, listen to presidential de- Profession. PowerPoint lecture slides and Test Bank
bates, and take a virtual tour of a tenement building of questions are provided free of charge to faculty who
the 1880s. They can use these online aids within their adopt the 9th edition.
classrooms or offsite to develop specific assignments. I hope that this edition enhances social workers’
End-of-chapter materials include: practice in contemporary society. I hope that it mo-
●●
Discussion of unmet, persistent needs and policy tivates many students not just to learn about how the
issues in specific historical periods and the contem- American welfare state has evolved, but to engage in
porary period as a means of alerting students to the micro, mezzo, and macro policy advocacy to make it
need for policy advocacy. more humane in the future.

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An Invitation to Students Using This Text

Y
ou may enter this course with trepidation, be- throughout the national experience. You will need to ask
lieving that it will focus primarily on memoriz- yourself whether and how these contending views are
ing distant events and myriad policies with scant relevant to the ethics code of the NASW, which asks so-
relevance to contemporary social work practice. View cial workers to advance social justice and meet important
this course, instead, as an opportunity to interact with social needs with effective social policies.
events, issues, beliefs, and past policies to improve This course will help you understand the components
your practice in contemporary society. Realize that this of the American welfare state as specific programs, poli-
course takes you right up to the present at the time of cies, and rights were enacted in different eras—and how
the writing of the 9th edition, including the recent pres- this process continues today. This course provides you
idencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and the with a Policy Scorecard of these policies and rights that
first 11 months of the presidency of Donald Trump. You will be indispensible to effective social work practice.
can better understand contemporary issues when you Indeed, some of you may consider running for office if
view them in the prism of prior periods of time. this book opens up this possibility for you.
This course allows you to hone your ethical skills This course will also help you augment your social
in many ways. You can evaluate whether we even need work practice with three kinds of advocacy: micro policy
a welfare state in the first place by examining how the advocacy (commonly called “patient advocacy” or case
United States fared when it had only a primitive one— advocacy), where you help consumers obtain services,
without the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program rights, and opportunities to which they are entitled; mezzo
(SNAP or Food Stamps), Social Security, Medicare, policy advocacy where you work with communities and
Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). You agencies to improve services and to address community
can ask how Americans fared during recessions and the issues; and macro policy advocacy, where you seek to
Great Depression without unemployment insurance. reform defective policies in local, state, and federal juris-
This course will give you insights, as well, about the dictions. You will learn about many social work leaders and
life experiences of many vulnerable populations as they practitioners who used these interventions in prior eras to
contended with various kinds of adversity in the United help their clients and to make our society a better place. You
States prior to the enactment of civil rights legislation and will develop skills to analyze and develop policies, such as
specific social programs. These groups include women; developing a policy advocacy background document that
African Americans, Asian Americans; older persons; Na- serves as a template for specific reforms in contemporary
tive Americans; Latinos; children and adolescents; persons society. You may also write letters to the editor, Op-Ed es-
with chronic physical challenges; persons with substance says, and policy briefs, discussed at length in the MindTap.
abuse and mental health issues; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and You will find websites that enable you to interact
transgender persons; persons accused of violating laws and with history through documentaries, interactive dia-
residing in, or released from, correctional institutions; im- grams and maps, audio materials, and debates. You will
migrants; low-income persons; and white blue-collar peo- encounter ethical and other questions that will help you
ple. The course will discuss how members of these groups grapple with key social issues in the United States.
used empowerment strategies to contend with adversity. Consider this text to have a policy faculty of thou-
This course allows you to grapple with controversial sands of people who helped establish policies and rights
issues that are rampant in contemporary society, as any to make our society a better place—whether in the past
viewing of FOX News and MSNBC suggests—or with or the present. You will join their ranks as you engage in
the responses of the Republican and Democratic Parties history to advance your practice in contemporary society.
to many current issues. The roots of these controversies I am the Driscoll/Clevenger Professor of Social Policy
lie deep in the national experience; you will not only and Administration at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School
learn about their origins, but come to see their prevalence of Social Work at the University of Southern California.
xv

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Acknowledgments

Many of the changes in this edition were stimulated by Contributors to the Instructor’s Manual with Test
comments from the following reviewers: Bank: Creative Ways to Teach Social Policy History
and to Link It to Contemporary Society and the
Stephen Baldridge
Profession include Tony Bibus, Elizabeth Bussiere,
Aisha Bonner
Richard Cohen, Patrick Cunningham, Elizabeth
Nishesh Chalise
Dane, Susan Einbinder, Ralph Fertig, Esther Gillies,
Carla A Fagan
Rebecca Irwin, Katherine Kranz, Sharon Lardieri,
Jessica Gladden
Edith Lewis, Claire Lipscomb, Emma T. Lucas-Darby,
Heather Jones
Robin Lugar, Edward McKinney, Margaret Mead, Munira
Theresa Kreif
Merchant, Terry Mizrahi, Brij Mohan, Mary Montminy-
Sylvester Amara Lamin
Danna, Barbara Pillsbury, Elizabeth Rogovsky, Tim
Rosalie Schofield
Sampson, Susan Sarnoff, Robert Scheurell, Anneka
Christopher B. Smith
Scranton, Susan Smith, Terry Smith, Katherine van
Mary Banghart Therrien
Wormer, Jim Vanderwoerd, Ruta Wilk, Bonni Zetick, and
Daphne Thomas
Sharyn Zunz.
Leela Thomas
Kathleen Tunney
Kelli White

xvi

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PAR T 1

Becoming a Policy Advocate


for Vulnerable Populations

T
he two chapters in Part I provide a gateway discuss micro policy advocacy, mezzo policy advo-
to social policy. They define “social policy” cacy, and macro policy advocacy as ways social work-
and give many examples of them. They de- ers engage in policy practice to improve the lives of
scribe the evolution of policies in the United States. vulnerable populations. They argue that social wel-
They discuss values that shape social policies. They fare history provides skills, perspectives, values, and
discuss empirical findings that are used to decide evidence-based findings that are integral to social
whether specific policies are meritorious. They workers’ practice.

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CHAP TE R 1

The Symbiotic and Uneasy


Relationship
Clients, Social Workers, and the Welfare State

Students will learn in this chapter to:


LO 1-1 Analyze the evolution of the American welfare state LO 1-9 Enrich professional practice by placing it in a policy
LO 1-2 Discuss the need for an American welfare state context
LO 1-3 Understand why vulnerable populations especially LO 1-10 Understand policy-sensitive practice
need a welfare state LO 1-11 Trace the gradual evolution of the American welfare
LO 1-4 Move from our imaginary society to a welfare state state
LO 1-5 Learn the varieties of social policies LO 1-12 Recognize polarization and gridlock in the last
35 years
LO 1-6 Explore the purpose of social policies
LO 1-13 Develop personal and professional policy identities
LO 1-7 Understand the grouping or clustering of social
policies and social problems LO 1-14 Seek common ground while honoring the ethical code
of the National Association of Social Workers
LO 1-8 Identify policies that shape implementation and
funding systems LO 1-15 Treat each other with civility

T
hroughout this nation’s history, those who must than other Americans. You will become acutely aware
bear the brunt of social problems—individuals of the social, political, and economic context as it
contending with poverty, discrimination, dis- shapes the lives of your clientele positively and neg-
ease, and other social problems—have depended in atively. You will become aware of the importance of
considerable measure not only on their personal and social policies in the context of your clients, as well
familial tenacity and on community supports but also as of the agencies and programs where you work. You
on the policies of public and nonpublic agencies and will become more adept at ethical reasoning as you
of federal, state, and local governments. At various encounter many situations where you have to take
times, these policies, singly and in combination, have ethical positions with respect to the services you give
provided assistance to some, have left others with to specific persons, as well as the ethical merit of
no assistance, and have worsened the plight of many specific social policies that they encounter. Your jour-
others. ney through America’s history will help you sharpen
Your journey through America’s social welfare his- your motivation to engage in advocacy for specific
tory will help you sharpen many competencies. You clients (micro policy advocacy), to improve agency
will often engage in critical thinking as you ask why policies and to help communities improve policies
vulnerable populations became and remain a cen- that impact them (mezzo policy advocacy), and to im-
tral feature of our nation—and why their members prove government policies (macro policy advocacy)
often are poorer, sicker, and more poorly educated as you see unaddressed social problems. You will

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Discuss the Need for an American Welfare State 3

see improvements in the context as specific social parties. You will need to engage in ethical reasoning
reforms are enacted in agency, community, and gov- to determine which policies and positions to oppose
ernment settings. You will be a better and more com- or support. You will consider evidence when making
plete professional by virtue of your journey through your policy choices. You will learn how to engage in
our national history. respectful discourse with persons with different views
You will see that members of the same vulnera- than your own. You will learn how to stand your ground
ble populations that you discussed in previous eras when persons adhere to unethical positions or posi-
continue to confront adversity in the contemporary tions not supported by empirical evidence.
period. You will engage many ethical issues, such If you use this course to achieve these competen-
as deciding whether specific policies are meritori- cies, you will enhance your professional practice con-
ous from ethical and evidence-based viewpoints. You ceptually, ethically, and proactively. We will help you
will see how vulnerable populations empower them- by identifying places in this book that discuss the
selves. You will see how social activists obtain major competencies described in the Invitation to Students
policy gains. at the outset of this book. The book provides spe-
You read this book during a period when the United cial inserts for ethical reasoning, critical thinking, and
States is deeply polarized by ideological divisions, policy practice, as well as websites that allow you to
such as between the Democratic and Republican interact with historical and contemporary events.

Analyze the Evolution


LO 1-1
and identify how we can learn from prior events as
we engage in our professional work in contemporary
of the American Welfare society.

State
Social welfare history is a laboratory where we analyze Discuss the Need for
LO 1-2
how Americans have responded to an array of social
problems that have included homelessness, poverty,
an American Welfare State
malnutrition, mental and physical illness, disrupted Imagine American society—or any
families, orphaned or abused children, violence, income society—with virtually no social pro-
inequality, and discrimination. grams, regulations, or civil rights. Let’s
Americans have fashioned a reluctant welfare state make several assumptions about this imag-
during their history. If they made it more humane EP 1a inary society. Assume that its economy is
through thousands of social reforms and funding EP 3b organized in a capitalist fashion where its
enhancements, they provided uncertain or harsh reme- citizens work in corporate or other busi-
dies for many residents who experience specific social ness settings—and where people are expected to meet
problems—and particularly for vulnerable populations their needs through wages, investments, and savings.
that we discuss throughout this book. We will ask you Also assume that all who live in this society are
at many points in this book to ask whether Americans expected to purchase their medical care, their housing,
have advanced the ethical principle of social justice. their education, and their social services with personal
We will ask you to analyze policies and approaches assets. Assume, as well, that no civil rights laws exist
that might have created humane policies. We will also to protect specific groups or persons who might be
ask you to analyze whether and why some unmet needs subject to violent acts, discrimination in places of work,
of prior eras remain unaddressed in contemporary or other forms of discrimination in schools, communi-
society. ties, medical services, commerce, or social services.
We will ask you, then, to move beyond a mere Assume, as well, that persons purchase their own means
bystander role as you engage the evolution of the of transportation (principally cars). Assume that they
American welfare state in succeeding chapters. We will fund their retirement exclusively from their savings.
ask you to take positions, make arguments, speculate, Also assume that this imaginary society possesses no

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
4 Chapter 1 The Symbiotic and Uneasy Relationship

regulations over businesses, landlords, drug compa- states, many employers would not purchase machines
nies, or medical providers. Nor does the society possess with safety features, not reduce pollution at the
police, fire, and public health programs. work site, and not curtail workers’ exposure to toxic
To say the least, life in such an imaginary society chemicals—omissions that would endanger the lives of
would be uncertain and difficult. Without a police many employees. With no regulations prohibiting the
force, persons would be subject to violent acts and use of child labor, many employers would hire children
theft. Without fire departments, their homes and busi- even for physically taxing work. With no prohibitions
nesses would be threatened with destruction, as small on making employees work long hours, some employ-
fires became conflagrations. Without public health ers would fire workers who were unwilling to work as
departments that regulate restaurants and markets, much as 14 hours per day.
sewage disposal, and refuse—as well as inoculate Imagine, too, how uncertain persons’ lives would be
people against diseases—communities would encoun- if no safety net programs existed, such as those that
ter devastating epidemics. currently provide food, health care, housing, preschool
If government did not build and maintain roads, education, income, and other basic needs to tens of
bridges, and airports, persons could not travel to work millions of Americans. Many Americans cannot cur-
or other destinations. Without public transportation, rently purchase these necessities because they have lost
the nation would experience gridlock on those roads their work due to downsizing or recessions, are injured
that did exist. Persons lacking the resources to pur- or in poor health, are unable to find work, or receive
chase cars would be mostly unable to work if there extraordinarily low wages. We can surmise that hordes
were no system of public transportation—or get to of people would have to resort to begging or theft to
health facilities, grocery stores, drug stores, and other survive in our imaginary society if they encountered a
destinations essential to their well-being. recession as deep as the one that existed from 2007 to
Even if we gave government some minimal police, 2009 and beyond—or even during periods of economic
fire, and public health functions—and allowed it growth when tens of millions of Americans use SNAP
to construct highways, bridges, and other physical (food stamps), free or subsidized school lunches,
amenities—life would still be brutish and uncertain for Medicare and Medicaid, and rent subsidies.
many people. With no minimum wage requirements, Residents of our imaginary society would be
employers could pay employees whatever the market harmed, as well, if Americans lacked policies to
would bear, regardless of the impact on workers. address global issues. Absent any policies that dealt
Indeed, it is likely that many workers’ wages would with such issues as immigration, the spread of dis-
be comparable to wages in developing nations, such eases across national boundaries, global environmental
as $2.50 per hour. If the United States currently pos- issues such as carbon dioxide emissions that threaten
sesses tens of millions of persons who subsist under global warming, and efforts to address an array of
or near official poverty lines because minimum-wage social problems in developing nations, residents would
jobs pay them at such low levels, imagine how many experience many uncertainties. They might be unpro-
more persons would face this economic crunch if gov- tected against a flu epidemic such as the one that killed
ernment had no minimum wage requirements. 20 million to 50 million persons worldwide in 1918.
The plight of workers would be made even more Lacking protections, immigrants might be attacked
harsh, moreover, because government—under our by xenophobic citizens without any legal protec-
minimalist assumption—would not require or help tions. American workers would find their work safety
fund some fringe benefits that many workers cur- and wages deteriorating if international trade treaties
rently receive. Many American corporations cur- allowed American corporations to victimize workers
rently fund their employees’ health insurance partly in the developing nations where they had moved their
because they receive huge tax incentives from the operations. Such places as Florida, the Gulf Coast,
federal government to do so—incentives that do not New York City, and portions of San Francisco might
exist in our imaginary society. Nor would employers be inundated by the ocean if international treaties
provide workers’ compensation to fund health care failed to avert or slow global warming stemming from
for workers who are injured at work. With no require- the emission of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
ments for heeding work safety requirements currently Nor would many persons belonging to vulnerable
established by the Occupational Safety and Health populations fare well. Individuals harboring prejudice
Administration (OSHA) or similar agencies in many could prey on persons of color without any restrictions,

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Understand Why Vulnerable Populations Especially Need a Welfare State 5

whether by denying them jobs and promotions, forcing pay only a 15% tax on capital gains when they sell
them to attend segregated schools, not allowing them stocks, bonds, houses, property, or other investments at
to live in their neighborhoods, denying them access a profit—and often pay little or no taxes on dividends
to public places like restaurants, or (even) physically or payments they receive from many state-issued bonds
harming or killing them, such as when tens of thou- that pay tax-exempt interest. Many tax loopholes greatly
sands of African Americans were lynched in the South assist affluent Americans to the point that Warren
prior to the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965. Persons Buffett, worth tens of billions of dollars, argues that his
with physical and mental challenges would receive few secretary pays higher tax rates than himself. Americans
of the work, housing, and transportation accommoda- have two welfare states: one for relatively poor persons,
tions currently required by federal legislation. With no and another for relatively affluent persons. Other tax
civil rights legislation to protect them, women would loopholes greatly assist affluent persons.
suffer discrimination at work with no fear of legal Affluent Americans benefit in many other ways
repercussions by employers or fellow employees—and from the American welfare state. Many of them would
would lack legal protections against sexual harassment contract diseases if the nation lacked public health
at work, in their homes, and in schools. programs that inoculate its residents and screen for
Life would be difficult, too, for tens of millions of such diseases as tuberculosis. Without education, job-
retirees. Roughly half of persons who reach age 65 do training, and social service programs, they could not
not currently own their own homes and lack signifi- employ productive people for their businesses. Without
cant savings—and a significant percentage of them are a publicly subsidized transportation system, they could
significantly in debt. With no government-funded pen- not run businesses that receive and ship raw materials
sions and no subsidized health programs, many of them and products. Affluent people use the nation’s social
would be in desperate straits when confronted with programs when members of their families become dis-
poor health or chronic health conditions. Unless phy- abled, sick, or unemployed. They are entitled to Social
sicians and hospitals agreed to serve them on a chari- Security benefits and pensions as well as Medicare.
table basis, they would lack health care. They would be They write off mortgages on mansions and vacation
unable to purchase medications. Unable to afford rent, homes.
many of them would be forced to live on the streets
unless relatives or charities came to their assistance.
Those middle- and upper-income persons who
believe that they could live easily in our imaginary
Understand Why
LO 1-3
society should reconsider just how much they currently Vulnerable Populations
benefit from an array of social policies. They cur-
rently benefit from the nation’s largest housing subsidy Especially Need a Welfare
program that allows them to deduct much of their
mortgage payments from their income when calculat-
State
ing their federal and state taxes. (These tax benefits are If our imaginary society truly existed,
larger in their cumulative size than all of the nation’s and those persons who lived in it suffered
welfare programs.) We have already discussed how the uncertainty and ill effects, the members of
federal government underwrites their medical insur- vulnerable populations would be placed
ance payments by giving their employers tax breaks EP 1a in particular jeopardy by the absence of
for funding them. Private entrepreneurs are enriched EP 2a government programs, regulations, and
by their ability to write a significant share of their busi- EP 3a civil rights, as our discussion of seniors
ness expenses against their income when computing EP 3b and low-income persons already sug-
their federal and state taxes. EP 5a gests. Such forms of prejudice as racism,
Many American social policies favor affluent Ameri- homophobia, gender-based discrimination,
cans. They greatly increase their resources, for example, ageism, classism, hostility to immigrants, xenophobia,
as they pay relatively low federal taxes as compared to and dislike of persons with mental and physical issues
counterparts in Europe and Canada, even if they often were and are deeply rooted in American society.
think they pay exorbitant taxes. If upper marginal tax Prejudices often profoundly shape the political
rates are around 39% for affluent Americans, they often process and the kinds of policies that affect vulner-
exceed 50% for affluent Europeans. Affluent Americans able populations. Because low-income persons vote in

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6 Chapter 1 The Symbiotic and Uneasy Relationship

relatively small numbers and many Americans do not jobs that most citizens did not want and even as they
understand or care about their economic issues, the paid payroll and other taxes.
Congress and state legislatures often enact policies that Our discussion should not suggest that members of
are relatively harsh toward them or that siphon scarce vulnerable populations need or seek handouts. Indeed,
resources toward more affluent persons and interests. their members have often displayed remarkable resil-
Because children cannot vote and often lack substantial ience and ingenuity in addressing their own needs during
support from the broader population, legislatures often specific historical eras and in contemporary society. As
give their programs relatively scant funding—while we discuss at many points in this book, they have devel-
funding at far higher levels programs for elderly popu- oped their own self-help strategies, community institu-
lations that are more powerful politically. Even older tions like churches and businesses, and power resources
men and women encounter remarkably harsh policies, in local communities. They have also advocated for
such as ones that require them to “spend down” their policy reforms, such as civil rights legislation and
assets when they experience catastrophic illnesses until enhanced funding for social programs. They have fought
they become sufficiently poor to qualify for Medicaid. for improvements in their communities, such as enact-
Vulnerable populations need a welfare state, more- ing zoning requirements that decrease the number of bars
over, because they are more likely to experience and liquor stores in low-income areas, funding afford-
poverty, economic uncertainty, and victimization. able housing, promoting good-quality schools, funding
Poverty exists disproportionately, for example, among job-training programs, and promoting the development
single women with children, persons of color, and of healthy neighborhoods with recreation facilities, full-
persons with mental and physical challenges. If no gov- service grocery stores, and safe streets.
ernment safety net programs existed, many members Imagine, too, how the work of professional social
of these groups would not be able to meet their sur- workers would be impeded if virtually no social poli-
vival needs, such as food, medical care, income, and cies had existed during the Great Recession from 2007
housing. to 2009 or during Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria
Vulnerable populations are also more likely than in 2017. After reading Insert 1.1, discuss the following
other groups to be victimized by landlords, employers, questions:
merchants, middle-income and affluent communities, ●●
To what extent can social workers provide effective
credit card companies, and schools. interventions to economically distressed families
Absent protections and rights, immigrants to the if they cannot refer them to the myriad social
United States would find themselves in particular jeop- programs of the American welfare state?
ardy. They might be denied access even to emergency ●●
To what extent is micro policy advocacy—in which
medical services, to schools, to work safety protec- social workers “go to bat” for clients and link them
tions, and to a minimum wage—even as they filled to those services, benefits, and rights provided

INSERT 1.1 Critical Analysis Critically Reflecting on Your Professional Role

Assume that you work with a family whose finances Harvey, Irma, and Maria in 2017. Also assume that
were devastated by the economic recession of 2007 the parents are unable to purchase sufficient food
to 2009 and beyond. Or imagine that you are working for themselves and their two children. Lacking health
with victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in insurance, the mother is unable to afford medications
2017, whether in Texas or Florida. In this imaginary for her diabetic condition. Assume the family’s car has
situation, there is virtually no welfare state in the United been repossessed because they can no longer make
States. Also assume that you are working with a family payments on the loan they took out to purchase the car
that has two preschool-aged children. Assume that in the Great Recession or that their cars were destroyed
both parents have lost their jobs and have had their by surging water in one of the three hurricanes—so
house foreclosed on because they cannot make their they find it difficult to travel to job interviews or even to
mortgage payments—or lost their homes in Hurricanes go to supermarkets.

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Learn the Varieties of Social Policies 7

them by the welfare state—an important profes- Constitutions define the social policy powers of
sional role? (Drawing on your personal knowledge, government at the federal and state levels. As we have
identify how you could provide micro policy advo- already noted, the failure of the federal Constitution to
cacy to this family now, when numerous policies enumerate social welfare functions for the federal gov-
and programs exist that could help them.) ernment was interpreted to mean that such functions
should be left to state and local governments and to the
You will learn about the challenges that confront 18
private sector. As a result, the development of social
vulnerable populations as you move through the history
welfare policies in this country was seriously delayed.
of the American welfare state. These include African
States, too, possess constitutions that establish impor-
American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native Amer-
tant duties of state governments, as well as how they
ican populations. They include women, older people,
govern themselves.
and people with physical, mental, and substance-abuse
Some social welfare strategies involve public poli-
disabilities. They include children. They include the
cies, laws enacted in local, state, or federal legislatures.
lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) popu-
These include the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the
lation, criminal offenders, homeless people, and juve-
Social Security Act of 1935, the Adoption Assistance
nile delinquents. They include some Jewish Americans,
and Child Welfare Act of 1980, the Americans with
some Asian Americans, and some white Americans.
Disabilities Act of 1991, and the Medicaid Program
They include low-income persons. They include immi-
created by adding Title XIX to the Social Security Act
grants. They include veterans. I discuss challenges
in 1965. These public policies can be modified or ter-
that these various groups have confronted in prior and
minated, as illustrated by the effort by President Donald
present periods, as well as the enactment of some poli-
Trump and Congressional Republicans to terminate
cies that have hindered or helped them.
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010
(ACA).
Move from our
LO 1-4
Court decisions play important roles in American
social policy. By overruling, upholding, and interpret-
Imaginary Society to ing the federal and state constitutions, statutes of legis-
latures, ordinances of local government, and practices
a Welfare State of public agencies such as mental health, police, and
welfare departments, courts establish policies that sig-
Let’s define a welfare state as an organized and
nificantly influence the American response to social
societal response to the needs and rights of residents—
needs. For example, in the 1980s, the courts required
something that our imaginary society does not possess.
the Reagan administration to award disability ben-
A vast array of social policies form the foundation
efits to many persons with mental disabilities even
of welfare states that we can classify by their form,
though many administration officials opposed this
purpose, and the way they have been grouped or clus-
policy. Federal circuit courts declared two proposals
tered in welfare states. We can also identify policies
developed by President Donald John Trump to curtail
that shape implementing and funding systems that allow
immigration from some mostly Muslim nations to be
specific policies to be actualized.
unconstitutional in 2017.
Budget and spending programs are also an expres-
sion of policy, as society cannot respond adequately to
Learn the Varieties
LO 1-5 social problems if resources are not allocated to the rel-
of Social Policies evant programs and institutions. For example, Ameri-
cans chose not to expend a major share of the gross
In its broadest sense, social policy represents a collective national product (GNP) on social programs before the
strategy to address social problems. This collective strat- 1930s but greatly increased levels of spending during
egy is fashioned by government laws, rules, regulations, the Great Depression and in succeeding decades.
budgets, and personnel—that is, enactments that affect Despite the large increases in spending on social pro-
or bind the actions of residents, government officials, grams in the 1960s, the 1970s, and even the 1980s,
professionals, and the staff of social agencies. Let’s con- the nation chose to devote a significant portion of its
sider these aspects of social policy in more detail. federal budget to military spending during the Cold War

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8 Chapter 1 The Symbiotic and Uneasy Relationship

and to make successive tax cuts—policies that greatly


reduced the resources available for social programs.
Explore the Purpose
LO 1-6
President Trump and Congressional Republicans of Social Policies
developed budget policies that made deep cuts in many
social programs and tax policies that mostly enriched Regardless of their specific form, social
affluent Americans and corporations as we discuss in policies can be classified by their ultimate
Chapter 13. purpose in the welfare state as they address
International treaties, as well as policies of the specific social problems or issues, such as:
United Nations, govern an array of economic, social, EP 1b Needs-meeting policies, including pro-
●  

migration, environmental, and national security issues EP 3a grams that give persons food, medical
in an era of globalization. EP 3b care, housing, and income (which would
Stated or implied objectives also constitute a form EP 5a include some contemporary programs
of policy. For example, the preambles and titles of EP 5b such as the Supplemental Nutritional
social legislation suggest broad purposes or goals. As Assistance Program [SNAP], Medicare,
its title suggests, the Personal Responsibility and Work Medicaid, rent subsidies and public housing, Sup-
Opportunity and Reconciliation Act that Bill Clinton plementary Security Income [SSI], and Temporary
signed in August 1996 emphasized rules and proce- Assistance to Needy Families [TANF])
dures for getting welfare recipients off welfare rolls ●●
Regulations that restrict the ability of landlords,
rather than providing them with training, education, or employers, corporations, manufacturers of drugs
services. and food, providers of health and mental health
Rules, procedures, and regulations define the way services, and the police to victimize consumers or
in which policies are to be implemented. Legislation persons with whom they deal
often prescribes, for example, the rules or procedures ●●
Opportunity-enhancing policies such as schools,
to be used by agency staff in determining applicants’ preschools, job-training and job-finding programs,
eligibility for specific programs such as Medicaid. subsidies to small businesses, tax incentives to help
Courts often prescribe procedures that the staff of persons start businesses or to encourage corpora-
social agencies must use to safeguard the rights of tions to train low-income persons, and programs
clients, patients, and consumers, such as preserving that help persons become American citizens
the confidentiality of their records or safeguarding ●●
Policies that establish and fund social and medical
the rights of persons before they can be involuntarily services to help persons with a range of personal
committed to mental institutions. Government agen- and familial problems as well as an array of medi-
cies issue administrative regulations to guide the cal problems
implementation of policies, such as requiring agen- ●●
Education policies that provide preschool, primary
cies to provide translation services to people who do and secondary, and postsecondary educational
not speak English. These regulations have the force of programs
law. ●●
Civil rights policies that specify the rights of
Compared with written or official policies, informal specific groups, such as women, men, persons of
policies are subjective views of persons and groups color, persons of every national origin, persons
that influence whether and how they implement spe- with mental and physical challenges, older persons,
cific policies. Assume, for example, that the govern- children and youth, persons of all faiths, and
ment required nursing homes to provide recreational persons with specific sexual orientations
services to their residents (official policy). Also assume ●●
Referral and linkage policies that establish
that the staff of a particular nursing home did not want case-management, ombudsman, and outreach
to provide these services (informal policy). The sub- programs
jective views of the staff would need to be changed to ●●
Equality-enhancing policies that target resources to
implement the formal policy, whether by giving them low-income populations (such as the Earned Income
training, convincing management to enforce the offi- Tax Credit and many means-tested programs) and
cial policy, or by using coercive strategies like with- that tax resources away from affluent persons, such
drawing public funds from nursing homes that failed to as the progressive federal income tax
provide recreational services.

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Understand the Grouping or Clustering of Social Policies and Social Problems 9

●●
Asset accumulation policies that help consumers ●●
American policies that shape global environmental
develop savings accounts and real estate as well as problems that powerfully influence the health and
develop small businesses well-being of citizens in all nations
●●
Infrastructure development policies that promote the ●●
National and international security policies that
development of transportation systems and parks not only provide safety to nations around the globe
●●
Economic development policies that provide tax from invasions and terrorism, but that also discour-
incentives and loans to citizens and businesses to age any nation, including the United States, from
stimulate job training for employees and that fa- operating outside the orbit of the Geneva Agree-
cilitate the economic development of low-income ments, the United Nations, and international law
areas
●●
Protective policies that help persons who are sub-
ject to abuse or violent actions of others, such as
protective services for children and policies that LO 1-7Understand
protect women from physical assualt—as well as
policies that promote safe neighborhoods
the Grouping or
●●
Preventive policies that aim to avert the emergence Clustering of Social
of specific social problems such as public health
policies that decrease levels of bacteria in food and Policies and Social
●●
water
Disaster relief policies that shape the immediate
Problems
response to natural disasters such as Hurricanes Social policies, as well as some social problems, are
Katrina in 2005 in New Orleans; Hurricane Sandy grouped or clustered in specific policy sectors, such
in New Jersey and New York State in 2012, and as mental health, health, child and family, safety net,
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria in Texas, welfare, education, gerontology, immigration, crimi-
the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean islands in 2017. nal justice, and civil rights. This grouping or clustering
partly reflects historical traditions where specific poli-
To these domestic policies, we need to add policies
cies were clustered in specialized programs and agen-
that are germane to globalization. With the increasing
cies that addressed specific social problems. “Problems
movement of capital, labor, pollution, and diseases
of the mind” came to be addressed by specific organi-
across national boundaries, Americans have increas-
zations, such as “asylums” (later called hospitals for
ingly had to cope with an array of global issues—even
mentally ill persons), family counseling agencies, com-
if they have developed humane policies only reluc-
munity health centers, and private counseling services
tantly in recent decades. They have had to develop:
with social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
●●
Immigration policies to determine how to deal with Problems of neglected or abused children were clus-
legal and social issues associated with persons who tered in public child welfare agencies, child guidance
cross international boundaries with or without spe- clinics, and family counseling clinics. “Welfare” agen-
cific kinds of visas or other legal documents cies came to subsume public cash assistance to an array
●●
Policies shaping work conditions (wages, work of “needy persons” including single mothers and blind,
safety, child labor, and hours of work) of workers disabled, and elderly persons. Heath problems came to
in the nations with whom the United States con- be subsumed in hospitals and clinics—and to be funded
ducts trade under various trade agreements such by private health insurance and public programs like
as the North American Free Trade Agreement Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insur-
(NAFTA) and treaties of the World Trade ance Program (CHIP).
Organization (WTO) This grouping or clustering of social policies into
●●
American policies germane to festering health, policy sectors has both positive and negative conse-
poverty, economic, and environmental conditions quences. If persons possessed problems of the mind,
in developing nations, such as the HIV/AIDS for example, they knew where to go to get counsel-
epidemic in many African, Asian, and Eastern ing and related services. If persons believed that a
European nations child was abused or neglected, they knew that child

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10 Chapter 1 The Symbiotic and Uneasy Relationship

welfare agencies addressed such problems. In similar


fashion, persons with medical, housing, education, and
Identify Policies that
LO 1-8
familial problems knew where to go to get assistance Shape Implementation
with them. Persons who believed their civil rights had
been infringed knew to approach specific enforcement and Funding Systems
agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity
No matter their form or purpose—or how they are clus-
Commission (EEOC).
tered or grouped—specific social policies require two
Grouping or clustering also facilitated the training
additional features if they are to be actualized rather
of professionals and staff who came to be employed
than being only policies on paper. These are:
by organizations in these policy sectors. Counsel-
ors, teachers, physicians, nurses, and child welfare ●●
Policies that mandate and shape implementing
workers received training geared toward the social systems to allow these various policies to be placed
problems commonly addressed by specific policy into action so that consumers can use and benefit
sectors. from them—such as administrative regulations,
Yet grouping and clustering also had negative con- policies that allow public agencies to contract with
sequences. It creates relatively independent fiefdoms, private agencies to deliver services, and civil ser-
or silos, in the American welfare state. Persons with vice and other regulations shaping staffing patterns
mental health problems, for example, often need of public and private agencies
counseling, but they may also need help with specific ●●
Policies that establish how funds are raised and
medical and substance abuse problems. If their mental distributed to fund social programs, whether from
distress is caused or exacerbated by their economic budgets of local, state, or federal governments;
condition or homelessness, they may need job training, federal and state income taxes; property taxes; ear-
employment, and housing assistance. Yet they often marked taxes such as the payroll tax used to fund
find it difficult to access these various services due to Social Security and a portion of Medicare; tax con-
their separation from mental health services in separate cessions that subsidize some of the costs of specific
bureaucracies or agencies. services or benefits; or consumer fees.
Many social problems, moreover, defy simple
remedies by a single set of agencies. Many homeless
persons need, for example, a combination of housing,
mental health, substance abuse, welfare, medical, and LO 1-9Enrich Professional
economic assistance. Many persons who graduate
from foster care at age 18 require a similar combina- Practice by Placing it
tion of services and benefits. Professionals and staff
who are trained only to relate to consumers or clients
in a Policy Context
from highly specialized vantage points are often inca- Social workers are required by their code of ethics to
pable of orchestrating services and benefits that speak place the needs of their clients first. They are morally
to their broader needs (see Insert 1.2). obligated to select interventions, diagnostic tests, and

INSERT 1.2 Critical Analysis The Problem of Silos

Let’s return to the family that we discussed in Insert 1.1 their jobs, their home, and their car? Might the problem
that was economically devastated by the deep of “silos” make it difficult for social workers to address
recession from 2007 to 2009 or Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, the family’s needs if they work for a social agency that
and Maria in 2017. What additional social problems specializes in only a specific problem or issue? Can you
might members of this family develop as they descend think about these questions by referencing someone
into extreme poverty, with both parents having lost you know or have seen in your field placement?

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Understand Policy-Sensitive Practice 11

treatments that will most enhance their clients’ well- housing costs will often find her health—or the health
being. When credible research suggests that specific of members of her family—to be compromised by this
interventions are likely to help specific clients, profes- reality—no matter how skillfully her physician, attor-
sionals should use them—while relying on their best ney, or social workers help her with the traditional ser-
professional judgments when such research does not vices they often provide. The physician, lawyer, or social
exist. worker who fails to refer her to the Supplemental Nutri-
The evolution of the American welfare state tion Assistance Program (SNAP or the food stamps
strongly suggests, however, that clients’ well-being program)—or to other income-enhancing programs like
extends beyond the scope of specific encounters with the Women’s, Infant, and Children’s Program (WIC) or
professionals. Specific bouts of therapy would not, for to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)— is not suffi-
example, have addressed the full range of needs and ciently improving her well-being by neglecting an array
wishes of persons cast into poorhouses because they of her needs and the needs of her family members.
were unemployed in the 19th century, whether due to Our analysis of the evolution of the American
recessions, physical or mental challenges, or discrimi- welfare state gives abundant examples of the impact
nation. Nor would they have addressed the major needs of economic, housing, civil rights, environmental,
of freed slaves, low-wage industrial workers in the and other external forces on the lives of members of
1880s, unemployed persons in the Great Depression, vulnerable populations. Through most of the nations’
or African American soldiers returning from World history, a range of public safety net programs did not
War II to Jim Crow laws and segregation in the even exist, so persons and families were thrown back
American South or to growing segregated communities on their own resources, as well as the resources of
in Northern American cities. Subjected to sexism in their networks and communities. Imagine hardships
workplaces, schools, homes, and professions, women experienced by settlers on the frontier who had to
often need more than counseling to address a full range devote several years to getting their first crops planted
of issues confronting them. and harvested when virtually no safety net programs
Social welfare history forces us to view human existed—or immigrants who arrived with no resources;
behavior in its broader societal and policy context. It the victims of recessions and depressions; and women
leads us to examine societal factors and forces that, who were widowed with no inheritance or employment
singly and in tandem, limit life prospects for some vul- prospects under the same circumstances. It was pre-
nerable populations. It places human beings in their cisely because voters and public officials recognized
broader context rather than viewing them as sepa- that persons’ well-being was compromised by the
rated from it. It leads us to consider policy-sensitive absence of a minimum threshold of resources and ser-
and policy-related practice, as well as empowerment vices that the American welfare state gradually evolved
strategies, that move beyond traditional therapeutic, from a primitive toward a more advanced one—even
medical, and legal services to give services that address if this evolution required more than 200 years even
a full range of the needs of their clients. It leads us to to yield the very imperfect American welfare state of
consider policy-advocacy practice when we believe contemporary society. Social welfare history sensitizes
that existing social policies contribute to their clients’ us to the environments of persons and populations as
problems or needs—such as micro policy advocacy, they were buffeted by adverse economic and social
mezzo policy advocacy, and macro policy advocacy. conditions in many preceding eras, as well as in the
contemporary period.
Policy-sensitive practice also requires profession-
als to recognize the importance of rights and entitle-
Understand Policy-
LO 1-10 ments to people. Through most of American history,
Sensitive Practice they hardly existed for members of the 18 vulnerable
populations identified in this book. Imagine the impact
All professionals should engage in their work with con- on members of these groups when they were subject to
sumers with the knowledge that their well-being often random and systematic racism not just from neighbors
extends beyond the scope of the traditional services that and other residents, but even from government offi-
they provide. A woman who cannot afford an adequate cials, social agencies, churches, public transportation,
diet for her children due to day care, transportation, and hotels, restaurants, bankers, real estate agents, and

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12 Chapter 1 The Symbiotic and Uneasy Relationship

landlords—with virtually no protections codified in federal government to their states will be more poorly
law and virtually no government bodies charged with funded than ones in more liberal states—and will be
monitoring and protecting their rights. Persons subject administered with more punitive guidelines. Means-
to unfair treatment suffer not just short-term problems tested programs often possess unacceptably low eligi-
such as restrictions on their employment, resources, bility levels—and their benefits are often inadequate.
recreation, ability to vote or hold public office, and The culture of poor laws and poorhouses still exists in
movement around the countryside, but also assaults to the United States as reflected by punitive policies of
their mental and physical health, not to mention their welfare legislation enacted in 1996 and mostly still in
sense of personhood. Many civil rights laws and reg- force. Funding levels for many programs can be sud-
ulations developed only relatively recently in Ameri- denly cut or entire programs eliminated. Certain kinds
can history, whether the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and of persons are not allowed to get benefits under some
1965, immigration legislation in 1966, the Americans programs, such as (until recently) single parents for the
with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the U.S. Supreme EITC Program (see Insert 1.3). The United States pos-
Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 that sesses the highest level of economic inequality among
guaranteed marriage equality for same-sex couples. 21 industrialized nations, partly due to social policies
Professionals need to be aware of the importance of that are less generous than these other nations.
rights and entitlements as they serve specific persons Americans do possess a reluctant welfare state that
to see if they are denied specific rights and entitle- often creates or even exacerbates problems for resi-
ments. They also need to know that many members of dents. Awareness of the reluctance of the American
vulnerable populations are still denied basic rights or welfare state helps professionals better understand
find their rights to not be monitored or enforced— their clients’ predicaments—and requires them to
or are unaware that they even possess specific rights or be creative in helping clients deal with the imperfect
entitlements under existing laws and regulations. social policies they confront.
By the same token, professionals in contemporary Social welfare history teaches us not only that many
society should be sensitized by their knowledge of policies are deficient, but also that they are poorly mon-
the evolution of the American welfare state to specific itored or implemented. The U.S. Department of Labor
gaps and omissions in its current social policies. As failed to monitor the extent to which corporations actu-
we learn from studying the evolution of the American ally paid immigrant laborers that repaired New Orleans
welfare state, social policies evolve through a politi- after Hurricane Katrina. The Equal Employment
cal process that often brings unfortunate compromises Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sometimes fails to
that impede their fairness or effectiveness. Profession- monitor or enforce job discrimination against women,
als who work in relatively conservative states should such as when they become pregnant or give birth.
recognize that many programs devolved from the Child welfare programs in some jurisdictions were so

INSERT 1.3 Ethical Analysis of Key Issues and Policies The Case of Persons
Imprisoned for Use of Drugs

The United States has had relatively harsh policies some states. Is counseling and other services readily
toward specific vulnerable populations for long available for persons incarcerated for this offense,
periods of time. Take, for example, policies toward as well as job training and employment services?
persons placed in prison for violating the nation’s Can you find evidence that persons of color are
drug laws. Go online to find the number of persons disproportionately imprisoned for drug-related
currently in prison for drug-related offenses—and offenses and, if so, why? Has this harsh orientation
specifically for use or selling of marijuana. See if you toward persons who commit drug offenses long
can locate a rough estimate of the cost to society existed in the United States? In light of our research,
of imprisoning persons who use or sell marijuana do you think American drug policy is fair, or does it
other than for medicinal reasons that is allowed by discriminate against persons of color?

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Trace the Gradual Evolution of the American Welfare State 13

poorly implemented in the 1980s to the present period well as the establishment of civil rights laws. Reformers
that federal courts ordered that many of them be placed in the early 1970s emphasized provision of cash bene-
under state management or other agencies. fits to people rather than social services, which received
more attention in the 1960s. Democrats sought in the
presidency of Barack Obama to rebuild some powers
of the federal government by increasing government
Trace the Gradual
LO 1-11 regulation of banks, oil companies, and the health care
system. Republicans sought during the early part of the
Evolution of the American presidency of Donald Trump to repeal the Affordable
Welfare State Care Act and climate-control regulations. This book
provides “Policy Scorecards” at the end of each chapter
This book chronicles and analyzes the emergence and that describe the policies developed in specific eras—
evolution of the American welfare state. Only gradually and provides a master Policy Scorecard in Chapter 14
did the elements of the contemporary American welfare that summarizes these policies.
state emerge over this time span. While many back- The intensity of reform describes the rate of policy
ground cultural, economic, demographic, and other activity. Relatively few policy changes occurred in the
factors played a part, policy advocates were the key 1920s and 1950s, for example, but many changes were
precipitators of the rise and development of the Ameri- initiated in the 1930s, 1960s, and 1980s.
can welfare state. Singly and in tandem in specific time American social welfare policy has evolved in a
periods, they mobilized support and resources for addi- series of phases (see Table 1.1) that are described by
tions to the American welfare state—often facing con- Parts 2–6 of this book. Part 2 discusses social policy in
siderable opposition from other persons, groups, and a developing nation from the early 17th century to 1800.
interests. They also fought against efforts to downsize It discusses how settlers established small settlements
or eliminate specific policies in specific historical eras along the Atlantic seaboard, declared independence
and in contemporary society. from England, drafted and enacted a Constitution, and
The history of American social policy can be elected its first two presidents (George Washington
divided into a series of policy eras—specific periods and John Adams). The federal government had little
that have an identifiable policy direction, substance, resources or power as the colonists mostly relied on
and intensity. The policy direction of an era describes local government for its few social policies. The U.S.
the general nature of the policies enacted then. In rela- Constitution did not mention “social policy” because
tively conservative periods, the emphasis of policy its framers believed local governments and states
makers was and is on maintaining the status quo, would implement the relatively few and small social
eliminating reforms established in a preceding era, or programs needed by a rural society. The Constitution
making major amendments to prior enactments. As we declared slavery to be legal in Southern states—and left
discuss in succeeding chapters, many conservatives unanswered whether new states on the Western fron-
favor devolution (ceding federal policy roles to states tier would be slave or free. The nation practiced geno-
and local governments) or privatization (ceding public cide against Native Americans. Nor did it sufficiently
policy roles to for-profit corporations and private protect women’s rights.
markets). 2 In relatively liberal eras, policy makers Part 3 (1800–1932) discusses how the emerging
enact major new reforms that redistribute services and nation transitioned rapidly from a rural to an industrial
resources or that increase the role of government. power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The
The substance of policy refers to the general strate- United States was mostly a rural society prior to the
gies favored by decision makers in a specific era. For advent of the Civil War in 1860. It developed an initial
example, between roughly 1905 and 1917, legislators set of social policies mostly at local and state levels
enacted regulatory reforms that established minimum during this period that included almshouses and insti-
public health, housing, and work safety standards. tutions for the mentally ill and orphans. The federal
Decision makers in the 1930s placed far more emphasis government auctioned off millions of acres of land
on legislation that redistributed resources and jobs to on the frontier to immigrants and others. The nation
unemployed and poor persons. Reformers in the 1960s maintained an open immigration system. It devel-
emphasized provision of social and medical services, as oped a system of public schools. It rapidly became

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Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
14 Chapter 1 The Symbiotic and Uneasy Relationship

an industrial nation in the decades leading up to 1900 Rights Laws of 1964 and 1965, a War on Poverty,
when it became the world’s largest industrial power. Medicare, Medicaid, many housing programs, federal
It drew upon the labor of millions of immigrants from assistance to schools, and many others. With collabo-
Asia, Mexico, Europe, and Russia. The nation devel- ration from the Democratic Congress, Richard Nixon
oped only a small welfare state in the 19th century that enacted many programs that rivaled the Great Society,
increasingly became inadequate as the nation indus- including an expansion of Food Stamps; passage of
trialized and as low-income immigrants migrated to housing programs and the Earned Income Tax Credit;
the United States. The so-called Progressive Move- and establishment of the Environmental Protection
ment of the early 20th century, when the social work Agency (EPA). These many social programs were
profession was born, created a series of regulations often underfunded, however, as social reformers found
mostly in local and state governments over housing, resources depleted by military spending in the Cold
food, and drugs—but that distributed few resources to War, as well as the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
low-income persons. While slaves were freed during Part 5 (1981–1992) discusses the rise of the con-
the Civil War in the middle of the 19th century, Jim servative backlash against social polices enacted in the
Crow Laws in the Southern states did not allow them prior era, It was initiated by President Ronald Reagan
to vote, use public places, or serve on juries. Nor were and continued by President George H. W. Bush,
they given sufficient land and resources to lift many of Sr. Reagan markedly cut taxes and social spending while
them from poverty. The United States wrested lands greatly increasing military spending. He moved many
from Mexico in the American Southwest by invading programs from the federal government to states by cre-
Mexico City—and exploited Latinos by mostly rel- ating so-called block grant programs. He drew heavily
egating them to agricultural labor and denying them on the economic theory of Arthur Laffer who contended
the vote. Native Americans were subjected to vio- that huge tax cuts would spur economic growth without
lence from private citizens and the military and mostly increasing federal deficits—a theory that was disproven
placed on reservations with few rights and resources. by the creation of debts larger than all previous presi-
Irish, Italian, and Asian American immigrants, and dents combined. President George Bush, Sr. succeeded
other immigrants were subjected to considerable preju- Reagan in 1989—and maintained his conservative poli-
dice from the indigenous white population even as the cies. He also maintained Reagan’s high military spend-
nation used their labor to make goods in factories and ing, frugal domestic budget, and low federal taxes. While
build railroads. the rights of disabled persons were advanced by enact-
Part 4 (1933–1980) discusses how the United States ment of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990,
developed an array of social policies during a relatively neither President Reagan nor Bush, Sr. significantly
liberal era. It enacted scores of major social policies advanced the rights of other vulnerable populations.
during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Great Part 6 (1992 to the present) discusses an era of grid-
Society of the 1960s, and the Presidency of Richard lock and polarization lasting during the presidencies
Nixon in the early 1970s. President Franklin Roosevelt of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Jr, Barack Obama,
initiated an array of federal social policies for the first and Donald Trump. Bill Clinton hoped to enact social
time in American history to address the survival needs investments that enhance economic opportunities for
of a nation with unemployment that ranged from 20% millions of Americans and national health insurance, but
to 60% of the entire population. For the first time, accomplished neither goal during a presidency where
the United States had a “welfare state” even if it was Republicans often controlled one or both houses of
poorly funded—a welfare state that was significantly Congress. President George Bush, Jr. hoped to privatize
funded by the federal government even as public edu- Social Security and Medicare but accomplished neither
cation was mostly funded by local units of government of these conservative goals as Democrats often con-
and states. While Roosevelt’s work relief programs trolled one nor both chambers of Congress. President
were terminated in World War II, Social Security, Barack Obama, the first African American president,
unemployment insurance, and some welfare programs successfully steered the nation out of the Great Reces-
remained intact—as did many federal regulations such sion of 2007 through 2009, enacted the Affordable Care
as abolition of child labor and the minimum wage. Act, and advanced the civil rights of the LGBTQ popu-
President Lyndon Johnson enacted scores of federal lation. But much of his presidency was marked by grid-
programs during the Great Society, including the Civil lock between the two parties and between liberals and

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distance without speaking. The silence was growing apparent when
Fanchon broke it.
“So that’s the girl who’s in love with you!” she said abruptly.
William reddened.
“Don’t say that!” he exclaimed hastily. “I never said that!”
She laughed, and he grew angry.
“Listen, Fanchon, I’ve got something to say to you!”
She gave him a sidelong look.
“Dis donc,” she said.
“I wish you wouldn’t smoke on the street. American girls never do it.”
“Street?” Fanchon looked about her vacantly. “Ciel, do you call this a
street?”
“Yes, I do. It’s a street in my home town,” replied William doggedly.
“I’m sorry you don’t like it. We’ve got to live here, you know.”
“Here?” She looked at him now, her lip trembling. “Toujours?”
Suddenly she began to laugh, softly at first, and then wildly,
hysterically, dashing tears from her eyes.
William, nonplused, simply stared. He no longer understood her.
VII
The difficulties of St. Luke’s Church had been very great. The
interest on the debt was heavily in arrears, and the Ladies’
Association, selected from the active female members of the
congregation, had labored early and late to find its share of the
money. There had been fairs and tableaux and even Mrs. Jarley’s
waxworks, but none of these things had done more than collect a tax
on the members of the church. Outsiders had been absolutely shy,
and the members were beginning to find a hole in both sides of their
pockets. They made dainty articles for sale—splashers and
whiskbroom holders and aprons—and dressed dolls and baked
cakes, and then went to the bazaar and solemnly bought them back
again. It had become a little wearing on sensitive nerves and
pocketbooks.
Finally, as a brilliant climax, old Mrs. Payson conceived the idea of a
concert that would be fine enough to coax the reluctant dollars from
the Presbyterians and the Baptists, the Methodists and the
Universalists and the Catholics—in fact, an entertainment that would
draw the town. The Sunday-school hall, a gift from Dr. Barbour’s
father, was large enough to seat almost a theater audience, and it
had a fine platform, furnished with footlights, and wide enough not
only for a grand piano but for a number of famous singers.
The question of paying the singers had, at first, staggered the ladies,
but Mr. Payson had finally come to their relief. As the wealthiest
member of the congregation, he usually had to make good the
deficiencies, and he proposed to pay for some first-class performers
if the ladies of the association would guarantee that they could fill the
hall at good prices—five dollars for the best seats, two-fifty for the
second best, and one dollar and fifty cents for children. If they sold
every seat at these rates, they could cover the deficit, and Mr.
Payson would escape another and heavier levy.
It was Virginia Denbigh who finally achieved it. She had taken hold
with the ardor of youth and the executive ability which Colonel
Denbigh proudly claimed was an attribute of his family. The thing
was done. The pianist, Caraffi, was engaged and one fine singer,
besides a first-rate orchestra from out of town.
“No one,” said Virginia, “will pay to hear our own people, even if they
play better.”
The wisdom of this diagnosis of the popular sentiment was
demonstrated by the sale of tickets. As the night drew near, it
became apparent that not a seat would be vacant. The invitation to
young Mrs. William Carter was a brilliant coup. The town was
anxious to see her and to hear her; the announcement that she
would sing—probably a French ballad—had rushed the last seats up
to a premium. For William Carter’s sudden marriage abroad had
aroused no small amount of gossip.
The hall began to fill early. Virginia Denbigh, who had come down
with her grandfather, glanced over it with a thrill of pleasure.
“We’re going to make it,” she said softly, “every cent! Look, grandpa,
they’re selling the last seats for five dollars—away back, too!”
“Scandalous!” retorted the colonel. “Can’t see a thing there but the
top of Mrs. Payson’s bonnet, and there’ll be a draft from the door.
You’ve got no conscience, Jinny. Make them sell those for a dollar.”
She laughed, patting his arm.
“You go and take your seat; I’ve got to be back in the reception-room
to meet the singers.”
The old man nodded, making his way to a front seat, and looking
about him interestedly as he went.
The congregation was there in force, with the rector and his wife well
down in front; but, for the first time in the history of their church
entertainments, the rest of the townspeople appeared there, too.
Colonel Denbigh counted three ministers and half a dozen deacons.
The black coats and white neckties were well forward, and there
were three old ladies, patrons of the church, already seated, with
their ear trumpets at their ears. On the rear benches the young
people were congregated, and, as the hall filled, the young men of
the town stood about in groups in the aisles and behind the last
seats.
But it was a very solemn gathering, after all.
“Sunday-school meeting,” thought the colonel. “Hard-shelled Baptists
and Methodists on one side, and High-church Episcopalians and
Roman Catholics on the other. Needs something a little sprightly to
make ’em sit up and take notice. I wonder——”
He looked about him curiously, and then he saw Mr. Carter going
slowly down the aisle, followed by his wife and Emily.
“Hello!” said the colonel. “Didn’t expect such luck. You’ve got the
seat next to me, Mrs. Carter. How are you, Emily?” He glanced
rather sharply at the girl as he spoke, startled by her unusual
appearance, for Emily’s white eyelashes were now a dark brown,
and her nose was whitened. “Bless my soul!” thought the colonel,
and then, to Mr. Carter: “Where’s William and his pretty wife?”
“William isn’t coming,” Mr. Carter replied shortly, seating himself
heavily and feeling of his necktie. “He’s at home, smoking a pipe with
Dan. His wife”—Mr. Carter glanced at the lighted platform, filled with
a grand piano and many palms—“I suppose she’s coming. She
started with Leigh half an hour ago. He’s bringing her.”
“Humph!”
The colonel tried to think of something more to say, but Mrs. Payson
relieved him. She fluttered across the aisle.
“Dear Mrs. Carter, we’re all crazy to hear your new daughter sing!
Judge Jessup says she’s got a lovely voice.”
Mrs. Carter smiled tremulously and blushed.
“Yes,” she said faintly, but with some pride in her voice. “The judge
heard her the other night. She’s—she’s coming with Leigh.”
As she spoke there was a flutter and stir in the audience, and Mrs.
Payson retreated hastily to a front seat. Judge Jessup had just
appeared on the platform with a tall, thin man who wore an
immaculate dress-suit and displayed an amazing head of black hair.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the judge in his deep bass, “it’s my
duty and my pleasure to introduce the great pianist, Signor Caraffi.”
Colonel Denbigh led the applause, and for a moment it was
deafening. The pianist, thrusting one hand in the front of his white
satin waistcoat, bowed low. Judge Jessup discreetly withdrew into
the shadow of the palms where—at intervals—the audience
glimpsed white skirts and pink skirts and blue skirts, and two or three
amazing pairs of feet skirmishing behind the foliage and between the
substantial green tubs. But even these things became less diverting
when the hirsute gentleman began to play.
“Oh, how wonderful!” breathed Mrs. Carter with relief.
Colonel Denbigh nodded.
“Looks like a hair-restorer advertisement,” he replied gently; “but he
can play. I reckon it’s genius that makes his hair grow!”
It certainly looked like genius, for he was really a great pianist. For a
while he held the audience spellbound. Splendid music filled their
ears and, in some cases at least, stirred their souls. Even the more
frivolous listeners forgot to make fun of the huge, shaggy head as it
bent and swayed and nodded while the pianist forgot himself and
forgot the world in his conflict with the instrument—a conflict that
always left him supremely master of heavenly harmonies.
Back in the little room behind the platform, Virginia listened and
forgot that she was worn out with superintending it all; forgot that she
still had her anxieties, and would have them until the last number
was successfully rendered, for Mrs. William Carter was next on the
bill, and Mrs. Carter had not come. Not yet! Virginia was waiting for
her, much against her will, for there were two or three operatic
strangers waiting also, and that intolerable man Corwin, Caraffi’s
manager.
Virginia was aware of him, aware of his sleek good looks and his
watchful eyes. Finding them fixed in her direction, she turned her
shoulder toward him, and was thus the first to see the arrival of
Fanchon and Leigh. They came in softly, Fanchon on tiptoe, listening
to Caraffi, and Leigh laden with her wraps and her music-roll, his
young, flushed face turned adoringly toward his sister-in-law.
Virginia could not blame him. It seemed to her that the girl—she
looked no more than seventeen or eighteen—was wonderfully pretty.
For Fanchon had stopped just inside the door, where the light fell full
upon her, and was listening, her head a little bent and her finger on
her lips. She had given her wrap to Leigh, and stood there, a shining
little figure, in white and silver, much décolleté, her slender arms and
her lovely young throat unornamented. Her gown—a Parisian thing,
Virginia thought—clung to her in a wonderful way, like the shining
calyx of a flower; and yet it floated, too, when she moved. Her dusky
hair, her wonderful dark eyes, and the piquant little face, needed no
better frame than the glimpse of starry night in the open door behind
her and the glimmer of shaded lights overhead.
Virginia went forward.
“I’m so glad you’ve come,” she said softly. “Your number is the next
one, Mrs. Carter.”
Fanchon turned to answer, putting out a small, bejeweled hand,
confident and smiling, a sparkling little creature. Then suddenly there
came a change. She stopped short and stood motionless. She
scarcely seemed to breathe. It was as if some force stronger than
her will had arrested her.
Watching her face, Virginia felt the shock of it, without knowing what
it was—fear or hate, or a mingling of both. But Fanchon’s eyes were
fixed on Corwin, and they were no longer soft. It was not the look of
a wild fawn, but of a tigress at bay. Something within, some feeling
as strong as it was extraordinary, transformed her. For an instant she
seemed to flinch, then she stood facing him.
The man, turning as suddenly, saw her. He jumped to his feet.
“Fanchon la Fare!” he exclaimed, and came toward her, speaking
rapidly in French.
Virginia turned away. She did not want to listen, but she heard an
exclamation from Fanchon, and saw her leave Corwin standing, an
odd look on his face.
Leigh, who had been busy with the wraps, turned, saw the meeting
and Fanchon’s face. He dropped his burden and crossed over to her
quickly.
“What did he say to you, Fanchon?” he panted. “If he was rude to
you, I’ll—I’ll thrash him!”
Fanchon laughed a wild little laugh.
“Dear boy!” she said softly, and stroked his hand. “Je t’adore!”
Leigh flushed, his lowering gaze fastened angrily on Corwin, and
Virginia drew a breath of relief when she heard the applause outside.
Caraffi had given them a cheery encore; he was coming off the
platform, and Fanchon must go on. Virginia called to her softly.
“Now, please, Mrs. Carter!” she said.
Fanchon turned and looked at her, saw by her face that Virginia had
seen too much, and her eyes blazed with anger. She took a step
forward and snatched up her music-roll, running her fingers over the
leaves and biting her lip.
“Tell them to play this, please,” she said, with her head up.
Without looking at it, Virginia took it to the director of the orchestra,
glad to escape the little scene. It seemed to her that the air was
charged, and she knew that the wait had been too long already. She
could hear the impatient stir outside.
There was, indeed, a little stir of impatience in the hall. Two or three
young ushers went up and down the aisles with pitchers of iced
water, and the rear seats began to fill up with gentlemen who were
eating cloves. The rest of the audience studied the program,
expectant. “No. 2, Mrs. William Carter, solo,” appeared on it in fine
type.
“My daughter-in-law’s going to sing next,” said Mr. Carter,
remembering the broken engagement and putting out a feeler. “Seen
her yet, colonel?”
“Saw her the other day.” The colonel clasped the top of his cane,
leaning on it, and looking absently at an amazing pair of feet and
ankles that he saw approaching from behind the palms. “She’s
mighty pretty.”
“Think so?” Mr. Carter smiled. “Notice her eyes? Something fawn-
like about them—and velvety. We’ve got to calling her—among
ourselves, of course—‘the wild fawn.’”
At this moment one of the old ladies behind them interrupted. She
tapped Mr. Carter’s shoulder with her fan.
“I do like music,” she said in a loud whisper. “It’s so churchy. I can’t
hear much, but I feel it down my spine. Now, tableaux—well,
sometimes they’re not just the thing, but music for the church, it’s—
it’s safe!”
Colonel Denbigh, overhearing, pulled his mustache. His ear had
caught the first notes of a piece that was not “churchy”; it was far too
light and too fantastic.
“The kind of tune that makes a fellow sit up and take notice,” the
colonel thought. “I wonder——”
He got no farther before he was drowned in applause. A small,
graceful, shimmering figure had slipped out from behind the palms.
Fanchon stood in the center of the stage, her slender arms raised
and her hands clasped behind her head, her eyes bent downward,
the shadowy hair framing a low, white brow, her red lips slightly
parted. If she heard the applause, she did not heed it. She made no
response; she only waited.
Then, as the soft, seductive strains began to fill the hall with music,
she began to sing—softly at first, then rising note by note until her
clear soprano floated upward like the song of a bird. Then, just as
the tension seemed to relax and a deep sigh of pleasure came from
the most anxious of the audience, she began to dance.
Still singing, she danced wonderfully, strangely, wildly. Her skirt,
clinging and shimmering and floating at the edges, clung to her. It
unfolded like a flower as she stepped, and folded again about her
slender ankles, above the marvel of her dancing feet. She swayed
lightly from side to side, her slender body the very embodiment of
grace and motion, as her dancing seemed to be the interpretation of
the music, subtle, seductive, wonderful. So might the daughter of
Herodias have danced before Herod Antipas!
Breathless, the good people in the front rows stared. Movement was
impossible, every sense seemed suspended, everything but the
sensation of amazement. Mrs. Carter looked in a frightened way at
her husband and caught the twinkle in Colonel Denbigh’s eye. Then
she saw her rector mop his forehead with his handkerchief, and she
raised her shamed eyes to the stage. Fanchon was pirouetting on
one toe! Applause had started in the back rows, among the black
sheep, and was running down the side aisles like a prairie-fire when
Mr. Carter abruptly rose.
“Excuse me,” he said roughly to Colonel Denbigh as he clambered
over him. “I—I’ve forgotten something!”
Mrs. Carter half rose and then sank back, pulled down by Emily, but
she seemed to hear, through the spluttering applause, her husband’s
crashing exit.
It might be said that Mr. Carter had the effect of a stone thrown from
an ancient catapult, he went with such bounds and rushes. For a
stout man his performance was little short of miraculous. He covered
the distance to his own door in ten minutes, got out his latch-key,
found the key-hole unerringly in the dark, went in, and banged the
door to with a violence that made the ornaments on the hall mantel
rattle.
The hall was vacant, but he saw a stream of light coming out of the
library, and headed violently for it. William was alone, huddled in an
easy chair, smoking and reading. Mr. Carter came in and shut the
door. Then he advanced on his son with a face of thunder.
“William Henry Carter,” said he, “you’ve married a dancer—a French
dancer!”
William, overtaken by the unexpected, laid down his book and
stared. But his father only roared the louder. He seemed to think that
his son had grown suddenly deaf.
“Do you hear me, sir?” he bellowed fiercely. “You’ve married a—a
dyed-in-the-wool ballet-dancer!”
VIII
It was an hour later when Miranda, looking very dark and showing
the whites of her eyes to an alarming extent, opened the front door
for Mrs. Carter, Emily and Leigh.
“Mist’ Carter says, please, ma’am, yo’ come inter de libr’ry,” said the
colored servitress in a sympathetic undertone.
Mrs. Carter cast an apprehensive look at her daughter.
“I guess you two had better go up-stairs,” she whispered.
Emily nodded, and started for the staircase, but Mr. Carter shouted
from the library:
“I hear you-all out there—come in here!”
They went. Leigh, having forgotten to put down Fanchon’s extra
wraps, brought up the rear, his flushed face just appearing above a
mass of chiffon, lace and fur.
Mr. Carter, striding up and down the room alone, caught sight of his
youngest son first.
“Put down those things!” he shouted. “You look like a dromedary.”
Leigh obeyed, but he straightened himself and stood, sullenly, his
eyes on the ground. His father took no further notice of him.
“I’d like to know if any of you knew what that girl was going to do to-
night?” he demanded fiercely.
Mrs. Carter sank weakly into the nearest chair.
“No, we didn’t! Wasn’t it awful? I was so mortified. The Baptist
minister went out just after you, Johnson, and the rector was as red
as could be. I’m sure I don’t know what he thought!”
“Thought! Where is she?”
“William came for her, and took her out to supper at the inn,” said
Emily in a weak voice.
Like Leigh she stood back, unsympathetic, but she was a little
frightened, too.
“Humph! Took her out to supper, eh?” Mr. Carter thundered. “I reckon
he thought he’d better! I gave him a piece of my mind.”
“Oh, papa! He was as white as a sheet.” William’s mother pressed
her handkerchief against her shaking lips. “He didn’t know, of course.
He wasn’t to blame, dear—you shouldn’t have done it!”
“Wasn’t to blame?” Mr. Carter blazed with wrath. “Didn’t he marry
that ballet-dancer? Didn’t he bring a French ballet-dancer home here
and foist her on a decent, respectable family? He wasn’t to blame,
you say? By Jove, I wish he was small enough to thrash!”
He was still walking up and down. As he swung around, Leigh faced
him.
“She’s a lovely creature!” the boy cried passionately. “That dance
was beautiful—everybody thought so!”
“Oh, Leigh!” gasped his mother. “Dr. Fanshawe was ashamed to look
at it!”
“Old idiot!” cried Leigh. “You’re all making her unhappy—any one
can see it. Nothing but criticism from morning until night—I call it
cruel!”
Mr. Carter stared at him a moment in amazed incredulity. Then he
jeered.
“Hear, hear!” he cried. “Wisdom from the mouths of babes and
sucklings! Do you want to marry a ballet-dancer, too, sir?”
But his son’s blood was up.
“I call it a burning shame!” he cried. “She’s come here, a foreigner,
and she wants to love us, and you’re talking brutally about her. She’s
exquisite, she was to-night, she——”
“Go to bed!” shouted Mr. Carter. “Shut up and go to bed!”
Mrs. Carter rose hastily and gave Leigh a little shove.
“Go!” she whispered. “There, there—don’t aggravate papa.”
Leigh, shaking with anger, yielded ground reluctantly.
“She’s an angel!” he shouted at the door. “I won’t have her abused!”
“Did you marry her!” Mr. Carter asked with fine sarcasm. “Maybe I’ve
made a mistake; I thought it was William.”
Leigh almost choked with indignation.
“He isn’t here—I won’t have her talked about.”
“Go to bed!” thundered Mr. Carter, taking a step forward.
“I——” Leigh began to sputter again, but his mother thrust him out
and shut the door.
“Do speak lower, Johnson,” she sobbed. “I know Miranda listens.”
“I don’t care a hang whether Miranda listens or not,” said Mr. Carter.
“That boy’s an ass—talk about his being a genius!”
“Oh, papa, he’s only eighteen,” said Mrs. Carter deprecatingly, “and
she’s made up to him from the very first.”
“He’s an ass!” repeated Mr. Carter. “And I guess the whole town
knows I’ve got a ballet-dancer——”
He stopped; his eye had suddenly lighted on Emily. She was
huddled in a frightened attitude behind her mother’s chair, and the
light was strong on her face. Her father stared.
“What’s the matter with that child’s eyes?” he demanded suddenly.
“They look like burnt holes in a blanket!”
Mrs. Carter, following his look, suddenly noticed her daughter’s
eyelashes and nose. In an illuminating flash she remembered that
first night in Emily’s room.
“Oh, Emmy!” she gasped. “You’ve painted your eyelashes!”
Emily clung to the back of her chair.
“I had to, mama. They’re horrid and white.”
“Good Lord, that minx is teaching my daughter to paint her face!
Mama, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Can’t you watch your
own children?” bellowed Mr. Carter, beside himself.
“Emmy, I’m ashamed!” Poor Mrs. Carter sat gasping, her mouth
open. “I never dreamed—what’s that on your nose?”
Emily seized her handkerchief and began to rub the offending
feature.
“It’s nothing, mama—just a little liquid powder.”
“You march up-stairs and wash your face!” said her father. “Hear
me? Don’t let me catch you painting up like that—singing doll!”
Emily began to cry.
“It’s—it’s nothing, papa. Everybody does it. The girls think I look so
nice.”
“Wash your face!” shouted her father. “March up and wash your
face!”
“I don’t want to!” sobbed Emily. “The girls say my eyes look twice as
——”
Mr. Carter seized her by the shoulder and turned her toward the
door.
“Want me to wash your face?” he asked her grimly. “No? I thought
not. Well, then, you march!”
Emily, sobbing loudly, marched. They could hear her stumbling up-
stairs, crying as she went.
“Oh, papa, you were awful!” Mrs. Carter wiped her own eyes. “The
poor child!”
“Do you suppose that I’m going to let my daughter paint her face?”
Mr. Carter fairly bellowed. “I reckon I’ve got enough in a daughter-in-
law! I’ll see to Emmy myself, if you can’t!”
“Johnson, you know I didn’t notice.”
Mr. Carter emitted another roar, and finally threw himself into a chair
and thrust his feet out.
“What did that fool William do?”
“You mean to-night?” Mrs. Carter dried her eyes. “He just met us at
the door. He was so white he scared me, and he took Fanchon off in
a taxi—in that scandalous dress! Said he’d give her a supper out to-
night. I’m afraid you’ve done it this time, Johnson. What did you do to
the poor boy?”
“Poor donkey! I told him what I thought of that woman—called by my
name, too—a woman dressing like one of those yellow East Indian
dancing-girls—that’s what I told him.”
“Johnson!”
“I did! What do you s’pose the congregation thought? By George, it
made me hot all over. Did you see her legs?”
“You mean her stockings? They were a little startling. I told her so
before we started.”
“Startling? My word.”
Mr. Carter relapsed into a terrible silence. Mrs. Carter sat helplessly
looking at him. She was thinking of that dance, that terrible, amazing,
dazzling dance. What a pretty creature, too! That was it; she had
turned William’s head; and Leigh’s and Emily’s, too. Those painted
eyelashes! For a moment Mrs. Carter half laughed.
“It’s funny—I can’t help it, Johnson,” she said, feebly apologetic, as
she met his irate eyes. “I was thinking of Emmy trying to paint her
lashes.”
“I’m glad you think it’s funny,” he retorted hoarsely. “Don’t see the
joke myself. I’ve got too much daughter-in-law, that’s my trouble!”
“Hush! There’s some one now—they’ve come!” Mrs. Carter tiptoed to
the door and listened, coming back, relieved. “No, it’s only Dan.”
“I wish William had Dan’s sense!”
“I wish Dan would marry a nice home girl. It would make things
better,” sighed Mrs. Carter.
“Daniel marry?” Mr. Carter raised his voice again to a roar of
discontent and hopelessness. “Who d’you think Dan could marry?
What kind of a girl d’you think would pick a cripple?”
“Hush!”
Mrs. Carter, very pale, rose and shut the door; but she was too late.
Daniel, suspecting the trouble in the library, had started for his own
room. The stairs were just outside the library door, however, and he
could not help hearing every word his father said. In fact, Mr. Carter’s
irate voice rang out like a trumpet. “What kind of a girl d’you think
would pick a cripple?”
Daniel, clinging to the banisters, ascended more wearily than usual.
The stairs turned at the landing, and he was out of sight when his
mother shut the door. He never used a cane in the house now. He
was well enough to get along with a heavy limp, and he made no
noise as he crossed the upper hall and went into his own room.
Once there, he locked his door, and, crossing to the window, stood
staring out with absorbed and thoughtful eyes.
The night was perfect. A young moon had set, and there seemed to
be, instead, a myriad of stars. He could discern, too, even in the
darkness, the darker profile of the hills, and, nearer at hand, the
clustering beauty of foliage, pierced here and there with the lights of
near-by houses, which shone in the darkness, without any
discernible outlines behind them, like fallen stars. The air was
fragrant and soft, with the sweetness of flowering grapes, familiar
and homelike, amid all that blended early blossoming.
He could hear soft, blurred sounds, too—the hum of insect life, the
piping of frogs, the murmur of the brook that flowed not a hundred
yards away. He stood motionless, thinking, and glad of the cool night
air on his hot cheeks and brow. He felt as if some one had dealt him
a physical blow, and his bruised flesh was still quivering under it.
“What kind of a girl d’you think would pick a cripple?”
Daniel shut his lips sharply over his clenched teeth. It wasn’t a new
idea; it wasn’t even a suggestion. He had known it all along, he told
himself, and yet the bare words were brutal. They seemed to brand
him like hot iron, to shrivel into his shrinking flesh and leave the mark
there.
“Cripple!” He remembered, in a flash, his well days—the days when
he was like other boys, before the fall which lamed him. He
remembered his own young scorn of the weakling and the maimed,
the repugnance that the physically strong often feel toward the
physically disabled. Yet there was nothing disfiguring in his trouble.
He was lame, but he was not twisted; he only halted in his walk. But,
none the less, he was a cripple.
“What kind of a girl d’you think would pick a cripple?”
Daniel stared steadily out into the night, as if the starry darkness
held the answer. One by one he saw the lights go out in the houses
near at hand. Farther off, lights still shone in the town but darkness
grew and grew. Then, far off, he detected a moving thing, saw a leap
of flame and sparks as the smoke belched from the funnel of the
engine. He could trace it coming nearer and nearer, and then he
heard the clamor of its bell at the crossing, strangely distinct at night.
He turned slowly away, lit the lamp on his table, and, going to his
desk, took out the picture of Virginia that he had stolen from the
mantel down-stairs after Fanchon’s attack upon it. He brought it to
the table, and, setting it down beside him, began to write. From time
to time, as he wrote, he glanced up at the young face in the frame,
and felt an exquisite sense of companionship. He was not alone; the
picture kept him company. The pallor of his face, too, gradually
changed, and a slight color rose in his cheeks. He took off his coat
and lit his pipe. Well into the small hours he worked steadily on a
case for Judge Jessup.
He was aware of doors shutting below, aware that sounds gradually
ceased and sleep drenched the household, but he worked on with
the passionate zeal that only an ambitious man can feel—a man who
has no other end in life but to forget himself in the fury of his toil. Yet,
all the while, the young face of Virginia bore him mute company, and
sometimes it seemed to smile upon him.
At daybreak, the fury of his thirst for work slaked, he lifted a haggard
face to the light, glanced at the picture, and stretching his arms
across the table laid his head upon them with a groan. He fell asleep
there from sheer exhaustion and was sleeping when the sun rose.
IX
William Carter took his wife to the inn for supper. He had
appeared at the door of the Sunday-school hall with a taxi and
abruptly bundled Fanchon into it. It was just after her performance on
the stage and before the audience began to disperse. In fact, they
heard the strains of some very churchy music coming from the
orchestra, as if an effort was being made—delayed but strenuous—
to soothe the startled spectators of Fanchon’s amazing dance.
William said nothing. He sat in the dark interior of the taxi with a face
as white as paper, and Fanchon, watching him covertly, saw that the
hand he laid on the window shook. She leaned back in her corner,
twisting a strand of pearls around her throat—a strand that she had
put on after the dance—and watching him; but she said nothing.
She had danced so wildly, indeed, that she was still panting and
throbbing with excitement. She seemed to feel the thrill of the music
even in her feet. It was intoxicating, it was what she loved—the
glamour of the lights, the music, the motion. Her whole body
vibrated, she could scarcely sit still, her feet still moved restlessly.
She loved it!
Yet she felt that heavy silence of her husband, the stiffness of his
body as he sat there, and she had caught a glimpse of his ghastly
face. She bit her lips, staring out into the night, her bosom heaving
passionately. She felt like a beautiful wild bird in a trap.
She stared, too, at the quiet street, with inveterate dislike of its
quietness. She saw the group of loungers in front of the chemist’s,
the belated pedestrians at the crossing. There was a glimpse of
shadowing trees. Pendent branches swept and swayed before feebly
lighted show-windows, where the shades were partly drawn down,
and the infrequent street-lamps shot occasional lances of light
across their dingy way. One such shaft struck on William’s profile
and revealed his tightened lips.
Fanchon wondered. She had not been aware of Mr. Carter’s
catapultic exit, and she did not know how much her husband knew.
Some one must have telephoned him—whom, she could not
conjecture. She shrank away from him a little, thinking, and Corwin’s
face rose before her mind’s eye. She saw again the confidence of
his smiling, mocking eyes, and she shuddered.
William seemed to feel it and gave her a quick look, but said nothing.
The taxi had stopped in front of an old-fashioned inn. It was a long,
low building with a glassed-in dining-room, built to accommodate the
stream of motorists who had begun to tour the mountains and scatter
gold and gasoline in their wake.
Into the new dining-room—a plain, bare place with rows of white-
covered tables and a few lean palms on pedestals—William
conducted his wife. Half a dozen negro waiters came forward. He
selected one he knew, chose a remote table, and gave his order for
supper.
“I suppose you want wine?” he said shortly to Fanchon—almost the
first words he had addressed to her.
She shrugged, slipping off her wraps and amazing the other diners
with the marvels of her costume.
“Mais non,” she replied indifferently. “I’m heated; I never drink wine
when I have danced.”
William, who was giving his order, stopped short a moment, his eyes
down, and she saw him pant like a man short of breath. But in
another moment he had despatched the waiter with his order and
drained his glass of water.
“Mon Dieu!” said Fanchon, watching him with dark, mysterious,
brooding eyes. “How can you? Iced water—it’s bad for your liver!”
“Drat my liver!” said William hoarsely. Then he leaned across the
table, his eyes raised to hers at last and spoke in a low, even voice
for her ears alone. “What have you been doing, Fanchon?”
She had never seen that look in his eyes before, and the blood
rushed back to her heart. She could not answer for a moment; her

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