The Political Failure of Employment Policy, 1945–1982
Title | The Political Failure of Employment Policy, 1945–1982 PDF eBook |
Author | Gary Mucciaroni |
Publisher | University of Pittsburgh Press |
Pages | 334 |
Release | 2023-10-31 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0822991608 |
This political history analyzes the failure of the United States to adopt viable employment policies, follows U.S. manpower training and employment policy from the 1946 Employment Act to the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982. Between these two landmarks of legislation in the War on Poverty, were attempts to create public service employment (PSE), the abortive Humphrey-Hawkins Act, and the beleaguered Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA).Mucciaroni's traces the impact of economic ideas and opinions on federal employment policy. Efforts at reform, he believes, are frustrated by the tension between economic liberty and social equality that restricts the role of government and holds workers themselves accountable for success or failure. Professional economists, especially Keynesians, have shaped the content and timing of policy innovations in such ways as to limit employment programs to a social welfare mission, rather than broader, positive economic objectives. As a result, neither labor nor management has been centrally involved in making policy, and employment programs have lacked a stable and organized constituency committed to their success. Finally, because of the fragmentation of U.S. political institutions, employment programs are not integrated with economic policy, are hampered by conflicting objectives, and are difficult to carry out effectively. As chronic unemployment and the United States' difficulties in the world marketplace continue to demand attention, the importance of Mucciaroni's subject will grow. For political scientists, economists, journalists, and activists, this book will be a rich resource in the ongoing debate about the deficiencies of liberalism and the best means of addressing one of the nation's most pressing social and political problems. Mucciaroni's provocative theoretical analysis is buttressed by several years' research at the U.S. Department of Labor, access to congressional hearings, reports, and debates, and interviews with policy makers and their staffs. It will interest all concerned with the history of liberal social policy in the postwar period.
Reversals of Fortune
Title | Reversals of Fortune PDF eBook |
Author | Gary Mucciaroni |
Publisher | Brookings Institution Press |
Pages | 240 |
Release | 2010-12-01 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0815720343 |
In this book, Gary Mucciaroni examines the shifting fortunes of economic interest groups in Washington. He addresses such compelling questions as: Why do policymakers bestow benefits on these groups in some areas of public policy but refrain from doing so in others? Why are benefits given to these industries in one period but revoked at a later time? What conditions and processes shape policymakers' postures toward particular interests, and why do they sometimes change? Mucciaroni compares and contrasts four policy areas—tax incentives, anti-competitive regulations, trade barriers, and agricultural subsidies—where it is possible for interest groups to gain substantial benefits while paying little of the costs. He finds that the fortunes of these groups vary considerably across policies and over time. In explaining these patterns, Mucciaroni argues that interest group fortunes are not shaped so much by the interest groups themselves or their political activities, but rather by what he calls the "issue and institutional contexts." The kinds of issues that become salient, how they are defined in policy debates, and the different institutional arrangements for making policy choices all have a powerful impact on group fortunes. The comparative case study approach allows the author to build generalizations about the relationship between issues, institutions, interests, and policy without sacrificing the rich and nuanced insights found in single case studies.
Understanding Policy Fiascoes
Title | Understanding Policy Fiascoes PDF eBook |
Author | Paul 't Hart |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 187 |
Release | 2017-09-08 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1351293222 |
A crisis of governance is widespread in western societies. Public administration is caught in a web of personal and organizational inter-dependencies that require continuous awareness and readjustment on the part of its practitioners. Understanding Policy Fiascoes applies policy analysis to come to terms with policy fiascoes, with a full appreciation of its limits. Despite the fact that policy failures may seem universal, they are in fact better understood as social, political and academic constructions. Bovens and 'tHart trace how and why certain episodes of public policymaking become labeled as "fiascoes." They highlight the analytical and political biases that shape our judgments of policy outcomes and the performance of policymakers and institutions. When put in their proper historical, institutional, and policymaking perspective, many policy fiascoes could easily have turned out quite differently. The authors show that the fact that these policy episodes unfolded as they did does not mean that they were inevitable. Careful analysis indicates that a whole series of variables, if not always manageable, can, through careful configurations of decisions, alter the course and outcomes of policies and programs, as well as the post-hoc judgments made about them. In examining public policymaking, certain questions arise: If public policymaking has failed so miserably, what does this tell us about the state of policy analysis? While policymakers are facing a crisis of legitimacy, policy analysis have been forced to reconsider the validity o their knowledge claims and the extent of their impact on the practice of policymaking. Understanding Policy Fiascoes will provide social scientists, policymakers, and political scientists with compelling perspectives on old problems and a path-breaking way to handle new problems.
Poverty in the United States [2 volumes]
Title | Poverty in the United States [2 volumes] PDF eBook |
Author | Gwendolyn Mink |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing USA |
Pages | 918 |
Release | 2004-11-22 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 1576076083 |
The first interdisciplinary reference to cover the socioeconomic and political history, the movements, and the changing face of poverty in the United States. Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, and Policy follows the history of poverty in the United States with an emphasis on the 20th century, and examines the evolvement of public policy and the impact of critical movements in social welfare such as the New Deal, the War on Poverty, and, more recently, the "end of welfare as we know it." Encompassing the contributions of hundreds of experts, including historians, sociologists, and political scientists, this resource provides a much broader level of information than previous, highly selective works. With approximately 300 alphabetically-organized topics, it covers topics and issues ranging from affirmative action to the Bracero Program, the Great Depression, and living wage campaigns to domestic abuse and unemployment. Other entries describe and analyze the definitions and explanations of poverty, the relationship of the welfare state to poverty, and the political responses by the poor, middle-class professionals, and the policy elite.
The Handbook of Social Policy
Title | The Handbook of Social Policy PDF eBook |
Author | James Midgley |
Publisher | SAGE Publications |
Pages | 625 |
Release | 2009 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1412950775 |
'The Handbook of Social Policy' is a comprehensive examination of the development, implementation and impact of social policy. The contributors document the substantial body of knowledge about government social policies and their driving forces.
American Unemployment
Title | American Unemployment PDF eBook |
Author | Frank Stricker |
Publisher | University of Illinois Press |
Pages | 390 |
Release | 2020-06-08 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 025205203X |
The history of unemployment and concepts surrounding it remain a mystery to many Americans. Frank Stricker believes we need to understand this essential thread in our shared past. American Unemployment is an introduction for everyone that takes aim at misinformation, willful deceptions, and popular myths to set the record straight: Workers do not normally choose to be unemployed. In our current system, persistent unemployment is not an aberration. It is much more common than full employment, and the outcome of elite policy choices. Labor surpluses propped up by flawed unemployment numbers have helped to keep real wages stagnant for more than forty years. Prior to the New Deal and the era of big government, laissez-faire policies repeatedly led to depressions with heavy, even catastrophic, job losses. Undercounting the unemployed sabotages the creation of government job programs that can lead to more high-paying jobs and full employment. Written for non-economists, American Unemployment is a history and primer on vital economic topics that also provides a roadmap to better jobs and economic security.
Fraying Fabric
Title | Fraying Fabric PDF eBook |
Author | James C. Benton |
Publisher | University of Illinois Press |
Pages | 309 |
Release | 2022-11-22 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0252053664 |
The decline of the U.S. textile and apparel industries between the 1940s and 1970s helped lay the groundwork for the twenty-first century's potent economic populism in America. James C. Benton looks at how shortsighted trade and economic policy by labor, business, and government undermined an employment sector that once employed millions and supported countless communities. Starting in the 1930s, Benton examines how the New Deal combined promoting trade with weakening worker rights. He then moves to the ineffective attempts to aid textile and apparel workers even as imports surged, the 1974 pivot by policymakers and big business to institute lowered trade barriers, and the deindustrialization and economic devastation that followed. Throughout, Benton provides the often-overlooked views of workers, executives, and federal officials who instituted the United States’ policy framework in the 1930s and guided it through the ensuing decades. Compelling and comprehensive, Fraying Fabric explains what happened to textile and apparel manufacturing and how it played a role in today's politics of anger.