The Assault on Social Policy

by William Roth, Susan Peters, Bernard Sanders (Foreword by)

Overview

American social policy today largely serves global corporate interests rather than the general public, according to William Roth. Based on incisive analyses of economic globalization, class, politics, and bureaucracy, The Assault on Social Policy argues that the perfection of the free market is a myth. Roth analyzes the rhetoric used to make poverty seem acceptable, shows how corporations affect the distribution of wealth and other resources, and considers the effect on disabled people, criminals, children, and health care. He concludes that increased transnational corporate power has created the need for large-scale systematic public policy changes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231506243
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	01/30/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Lexile:	1340L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

William Roth is associate professor of social welfare and public policy at the University at Albany, State University of New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Foreword by Representative Bernard Sanders
1. Policy
2. Corporations
3. Poverty
4. Welfare
5. Disability
6. Social Security
7. Health
8. Children
9. Outsiders
10. Democratic Change

What People are Saying About This

Harlan Hahn

This volume does a truly masterful job with a remarkable range of topics. It also widens the spectrum of dialogue about these issues to permit the discussion of perspectives that are usually neglected or ignored in most books on public policy. In this era when many people seem to have almost given up on the possibility of achieving fundamental social, economic, and political change, I believe that this book will be greeted as an inspiring source of hope.

— Harlan Hahn, University of Southern California

Bernard Sanders

Roth has written an impressive book that should be read by every member of Congress, by all students of social policy, and everyone else who is concerned about the future of this country and our basic institutions.

Katharine Briar-Lawson

Few policy texts use the political economy as the lens through which social policy is analyzed. This text depicts how the welfare state has succumbed to the private sector, increasingly being dismantled by capitalism and return on investment principles. When such issues of poverty, health, disabilities, school failure and immigration are juxtaposed against this backdrop, penetrating analyses of root causes of emerge.

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare - Larry Nackerud

The author is clearly worthy of praise for writing a book suggesting an alternative to the current corporate-based model of capitalism... Any reader committed to the traditional liberal position and wanting to know more about social policies will learn a great deal about the philosophical foundation of social policy in the United States.

Larry Nackerud

The author is clearly worthy of praise for writing a book suggesting an alternative to the current corporate-based model of capitalism... Any reader committed to the traditional liberal position and wanting to know more about social policies will learn a great deal about the philosophical foundation of social policy in the United States.

— Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare

Editorial Reviews

The author is clearly worthy of praise for writing a book suggesting an alternative to the current corporate-based model of capitalism... Any reader committed to the traditional liberal position and wanting to know more about social policies will learn a great deal about the philosophical foundation of social policy in the United States.

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare - Larry Nackerud

The Assault on Social Policy depicts how the welfare state has succumbed to the private sector and is being increasingly dismantled by capitalism and return-on-investment principles. When such issues of poverty, health, disabilities, school failure, and immigration are juxtaposed against this backdrop, penetrating analyses of root causes emerge.

Katharine Briar-Lawson

Roth has written an impressive book that should be read by every member of Congress, by all students of social policy, and everyone else who is concerned about the future of this country and our basic institutions.

Congressman Bernard Sanders (Ind-Vt.)

The Assault on Social Policy is even more relevant today, in its second edition, than it was ten years ago. In the first edition, William Roth investigated poverty, welfare, health, the social security system, and disability in children. I was impressed then, and I am impressed now by his analysis of economic politics, the role of corporations in shaping public life, the media, and the globalization of our economic policies. Roth and Susan J. Peters elevate the debate regarding social policy at the present critical historical hour. In my view, they have written an impressive book that should be read by all members of Congress and anyone who is concerned with the well-being of our basic democratic institutions.

Bernie Sanders

This volume does a truly masterful job with a remarkable range of topics. It also widens the spectrum of dialogue about these issues to permit the discussion of perspectives that are usually neglected or ignored in most books on public policy. In this era when many people seem to have almost given up on the possibility of achieving fundamental social, economic, and political change, I believe that this book will be greeted as an inspiring source of hope.

Harlan Hahn

This book confronts the reader with the possibilities, illusions, and limits of social policy, forcing us to choose for whom and for what.

Henry M. Levin

The Assault on Social Policy is even more relevant today, in its second edition, than it was ten years ago. In the first edition, William Roth investigated poverty, welfare, health, the social security system, and disability in children. I was impressed then, and I am impressed now by his analysis of economic politics, the role of corporations in shaping public life, the media, and the globalization of our economic policies. Roth and Susan J. Peters elevate the debate regarding social policy at the present critical historical hour. In my view, they have written an impressive book that should be read by all members of Congress and anyone who is concerned with the well-being of our basic democratic institutions.

Bernard Sanders