Welfare Hot Buttons: Women, Work, and Social Policy Reform (Heritage) - Hardcover

Bashevkin, Sylvia Beth

9780802037169: Welfare Hot Buttons: Women, Work, and Social Policy Reform (Heritage)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080203716X ISBN 13: 9780802037169

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2002

Welfare Hot Buttons provides one of the first comparative assessments of contemporary social policy change in three Western countries: Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. Sylvia Bashevkin probes the fate of single mothers on social assistance during the period when three "third way" political executives were in office - Bill Clinton (US), Jean Chr tien (Canada), and Tony Blair (Great Britain) - and argues that despite seemingly progressive campaign rhetoric, the social assistance policy realities under each of these three leaders were in crucial respects more punitive and restrictive than those of their neo-conservative predecessors in the 1980s. Bashevkin addresses even more contentious issues in her study, including the question of whether Anglo-American welfare states are being eclipsed by what she views as newly emergent duty states. In her comparative approach and in her substantive analysis, Bashevkin makes an original and critical contribution to the existing body of literature on social policy.

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Review:

"A historical and analytical gem.... Dazzles the reader with a new undestanding of why public funds and popular support for single mothers with children have dropped so precipitously." "Demonstrates that first-rate scholarship is fully compatible with strongly held values." "A solid feminist analysis of the reasons for and the importance of changes in social policy. .... It will--and should--provoke debate among all those interested in how social policy is being changed." Well-written and clearly argued. . . . An admirable study in comparative political policy that will certainly benefit public policy education. "--Choice"" "Well-written and clearly argued. . . . An admirable study in comparative political policy that will certainly benefit public policy education. " "--Choice"

Synopsis:

A comparative assessment of contemporary social policy change in three Western countries: Canada, the United States and Great Britain. Sylvia Bashevkin probes the fate of single mothers on social assistance during the period when three "third way" political executives were in office - Bill Clinton (US), Jean Chretien (Canada), and Tony Blair (Great Britain) - and argues that despite seemingly progressive campaign rhetoric, the social assistance policy realities under each of these three leaders were in crucial respects more punitive and restrictive than those of their neo-conservative predecessors in the 1980s. Bashevkin addresses even more contentious issues in her study, including the question of whether Anglo-American welfare states are being eclipsed by what she views as newly emergent duty states. In her comparative approach and in her substantive analysis, Bashevkin contributes to the existing body of literature on social policy.

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