Actively seeking work? : the politics of unemployment and welfare policy in the United States and Great Britain
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Actively seeking work? : the politics of unemployment and welfare policy in the United States and Great Britain
University of Chicago Press, 1995
- : cloth
- : paper
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Note
Bibliography: p. 297-316
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: cloth ISBN 9780226436210
Description
Why have both Great Britain and the United States been unable to create effective training and work programmes for the unemployed? Desmond King contends that the answer lies in the liberal political origins of these programmes. Integrating archival and documentary materials with an analysis of the sources of political support for work-welfare programmes, King shows that policy-makers in both Great Britain and the United States have tried to achieve conflicting goals through these programmes. The goal of work-welfare policy in both countries has been to provide financial aid, training and placement services for the unemployed. In order to muster support for these programmes, however, work-welfare programmes had to incorporate liberal requirements that they not interfere with private market forces and that they prevent the "undeserving" from obtaining benefits. For King, the attempt to integrate these incompatible functions is the defining feature of British and American policies as well as the cause of their failure.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Introduction Ch. 1: Work-Welfare in Great Britain and the United States Ch. 2: "A Permanent Club for the Unemployed"? Establishing Labor Exchanges in Great Britain and the United States Ch. 3: "Financial Succour for the Unemployed"? The Institutionalization of British and American Exchanges Ch. 4: "A Cheap Pool of Forced Labor"? Work-Welfare Training Policy Ch. 5: Breaking the "Spider's Web of Dependency": The Pyrrhic Triumph of Modern Work-Welfare Ch. 6: Conclusion: The Politics of Institutions Appendix: Comparative Tables on Work-Welfare Notes Bibliography
- Volume
-
: paper ISBN 9780226436227
Description
Why have both Great Britain and the United States been unable to create effective training and work programmes for the unemployed? The author contends that the answer lies in the liberal political origins of these programmes. Integrating documentary materials with an analysis of the sources of political support for work-welfare programs, King shows that policy-makers in both Great Britain and the United States have tried to achieve conflicting goals through these programmes. The goal of work-welfare policy in both countries has been to provide financial aid, training and placement services for the unemployed. In order to muster support for these programmes, however, work-welfare programmes had to incorporate liberal requirements that they not interfere with private market forces, and that they prevent the "undeserving" from obtaining benefits. The attempt to integrate these incompatible functions is arguably the defining feature of British and American policies as well as the cause of their failure.
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