Students who have taken courses in international and comparative social welfare will authoritatively confirm that the United States is the world's paradigmatic liberal welfare state – a country where the statutory social services are limited in scope, meagre and often coercive, dependent on means testing rather than social insurance and designed to promote individual and family responsibility through the market instead of collective provision. Although this characterisation has been repeated on multiple occasions in the academic literature, it hardly captures the complexity, diversity and scale of state welfare in the United States. Of course, this is not to suggest that the American welfare system is a world leader in statutory provision but rather to emphasise the inability of simplistic constructs to capture the intricate and fluid ways in which government policies and programmes at the federal, state and municipal levels affect the social well-being of the nation's population. The idea that a country of more than 320 hundred million people of diverse religious, linguistic and ethnic backgrounds, spread across fifty states (some of which could easily be independent and economically self-sufficient nations) can be reduced to a simplistic typological category is surely implausible.
Although the editors and a significant number of the contributors make frequent use of the liberal welfare state construct to frame their analyses, many of the book's chapters belie this characterisation and examine American social policies on their own terms providing insightful accounts of the way they function in the context of political, cultural, economic and administrative complexity. Overall, there is much to commend this book for offering a comprehensive and useful account of social policy in the United States. Its 34 chapters are grouped into five parts that provide a coherent basis for addressing the system's scope and changing features. In addition to an introduction, they cover the historical development of American social policy, its theoretical basis, and programmes for particular population groups such as elders, poor and low income families, people with disabilities, and working families. The last part deals with policy outcomes with regard to poverty, inequality and citizenship.
Many of the book's chapters are descriptive, documenting the social services that cater to different demographic groups and these are uniformly solid and informative. Most also provide up-to-date information which will be particularly helpful to students and other readers who wish to understand the basics of statutory provision in the United States. Part II of the book dealing with the historical evolution of American social policy is equally useful and, while much of this history has already been documented, these chapters provide helpful summaries. One chapter examines development since the 1970s but unfortunately length limitations impede its ability to explain the viciousness of recent social policy debates where political polarisation and obstruction has debilitated policy-making, particularly during the Obama years. This is an important issue in American social policy today as ideological extremism now dominates the political process and as electoral gain has become an overriding concern. As the recent presidential election suggests, the struggle over social policy will intensify. Several chapters allude to this issue but it deserves more attention.
Although many chapters deal appropriately with the statutory social services, some examine what is recognized to be a key feature of social policy in the United States, namely the intersection between statutory, market and indirect provision particularly through the tax system. A chapter devoted to private pensions shows how the country's venerable social insurance retirement system (which is one of the largest in the world both in terms of expenditure and coverage) is under pressure as market-based retirement provisions supported by tax incentives continue to expand. The close interrelationship of state and commercial provision is also discussed at some length in a chapter on private medical care. The chapter challenges the popular view that healthcare in the United States is largely a private responsibility and shows just how extensively it is subsidized and reinforced by the state. Although reference is made to the Affordable Care Act introduced by the Obama administration shortly after it assumed office, its sheer Byzantian complexity and the loathing which greeted its introduction from some sections of the electorate deserves fuller treatment. Indeed, the whole issue of state capture by commercial interests supported by traditional conservatives could have been more extensively analysed, particularly since social spending through subsidies to commercial providers, as well as individuals and households, has produced a unique pattern of social spending that is a hallmark of American social policy.
Another gap is the limited attention paid to the role of the courts, which have historically adopted an activist judicial style that not only interprets legislation but essentially makes social policies with profound welfare effects. The current internecine war over the appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice reveals just how important the courts are in shaping the country's welfare system. The book could also have referenced the way activism has influenced American social policy over the years. Although the success of the civil rights struggle and the campaign for gender rights are well known, the recent achievements of the gay, lesbian and transgender community in securing favourable judicial rulings and legislative changes deserves more attention. Despite its huge impact, activism of this kind is seldom highlighted in the comparative social policy literature. Indeed it is difficult to imagine how these progressive developments can be accommodated within the ‘liberal welfare state’ construct.
On the other hand, the book contains some novel and interesting chapters that are not usually included in a collection of this kind and which reveal the uniqueness of social policy in the United States. One chapter deals with home ownership showing the extent to which the state subsidises housing, primarily for the middle class. Another chapter discusses the provision of pension and health benefits for workers in the public sector, which is also an arena of intense political struggle, primarily at the local level. The chapter dealing with social programmes for the military and veterans offers interesting insights into the extensiveness of these provisions which are largely neglected in the mainstream social policy literature but deserve attention because of the country's huge military expenditures and status as a global military power. Two chapters dealing with race and gender cover a well-known but important terrain while another on culture and welfare offers insights into the extent to which welfare debates are infused with moral and ideological beliefs. A separate chapter on the role of public opinion effectively addresses this complex issue while another on the role of political parties shows how polarization and the intensity of political struggle is affecting social policy making.
These chapters support the earlier contention that social policy in the United States cannot be characterized in terms of simple typological constructs but that a nuanced interpretation based on a grounded analysis of actual policy decisions and the country's unique history and cultural and political realities is needed if its complexity and fluidity is to be understood. Many of the book's chapter successfully situate their analysis in a methodology of this kind and contribute to a proper comprehension of American social policy. The editors and contributors are to be commended for the book's range and accessibility and for producing a well-documented and valuable reference source. Another positive feature is the book's relative affordability. Despite its hefty size, its cost is within the reach of libraries, scholars and even postgraduate students who will benefit from consulting its informative chapters, which cover so many aspects of the country's complex and volatile welfare system.
