Overview

Today Europeans see their strong welfare states as necessary to counter the worst features of unrestrained capitalism. They pay high taxes to support generous social benefits. Americans, to the contrary, have been conditioned to shudder at the very idea of a welfare state, upholding instead a laissez-faire faith in market solutions to social problems. They pay low taxes and have few tax-subsidized benefits. In this far-ranging study, James W. Russell shows how and why these different models of social and welfare policy developed. He examines how Europe and the United States have handled differently, and with different consequences, such common social problems as poverty, inequality, unemployment, family support, health care provision, ethnic and racial conflict, and crime. Ultimately, Russell demonstrates that the different European and American social policy orientations have produced different social ways of life, ways of life that are now in contention for the future of western societies.

Full Product Details

Author:   James W. Russell
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
Imprint:   Rowman & Littlefield Education
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 22.70cm
Weight:   0.304kg
ISBN:  

9780742546936

ISBN 10:   0742546934
Pages:   204
Publication Date:   27 September 2006
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Unknown
Availability:   Out of print, replaced by POD  
We will order this item for you from a manufatured on demand supplier.

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Reviews

This is a wonderful book: erudite and sophisticated, yet lucid and to the point. Jim Russell offers us a sweeping portrait of the development of social policy in Europe and America and helps us to understand not only the differences between the European and American welfare state, but why these differences are so important.--Piven, Frances Fox

Author Information

James W. Russell is the Connecticut State University Professor of Sociology at Eastern Connectictut State. He is the author of five other books, including, Societies and Social Life: An Introduction to Sociology, third ed. (Sloan Publishing, 2006), After the Fifth Sun: Class and Race in North America (Prentice Hall, 1994), and Modes of Production in World History (Routledge, 1989). Additionally, Russell has contributed articles and op-ed pieces to a number of magazines and newspapers: among them, The Nation, The Progressive, Monthly Review, The Hartford Courant, The Portland Oregonian, and The New York Times.

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