Suchergebnisse

Leading scholars in the field examine the highly topical issue of the future of the welfare state in Europe. They argue that welfare states need to adjust and examine which kind of welfare architecture will further Europe's stated goal of maximum social inclusion and justice.

Employment rates and earnings among Canadian lone mothers have improved significantly since 1980. Using microdata from the Census of Canada, we show that these changes were mainly the result of two major demographic developments: the postwar revolution in women's educational attainment, and the aging of the "baby boom" which amplified the effect of rising levels of educational attainment. Most of these gains, moreover, went to older lone mothers. While changes in the social policy environment were undoubtedly a contributing factor, their potential explanatory contribution is comparatively modest relative to these large demographic shifts. Since the demographic drivers underlying these gains are now nearing maturity, future gains from this source are likely to be modest by comparison.

This volume places the welfare debates of the 1980s in the context of past patterns of U.S. policy, such as the Social Security Act of 1935, the failure of efforts in the 1940s to extend national social benefits and economic planning, and the backlashes against "big government" that followed reforms of the 1960s and early 1970s. Historical analysis reveals that certain social policies have flourished in the United States: those that have appealed simultaneously to middle-class and lower-income people, while not involving direct bureaucratic interventions into local communities. The editors suggest how new family and employment policies, devised along these lines, might revitalize broad political coalitions and further basic national values. The contributors are Edwin Amenta, Robert Aponte, Mary Jo Bane, Kenneth Finegold, John Myles, Kathryn Neckerman, Gary Orfield, Ann Shola Orloff, Jill Quadagno, Theda Skocpol, Helene Slessarev, Beth Stevens, Margaret Weir, and William Julius Wilson