Double Standard 1100__447755__RRuusssseellll__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb ii 1100//77//1100 22::3322 PPMM PRAISE FOR DOUBLE STANDARD “In this closely argued, detailed, and meticulous book, James W. Russell compares the development of social policies in the United States and in European states, pointing out areas where there are significant differences of approach but also those where one has borrowed from another. The strong historical and philosophical basis for Russell’s analysis continues to make this a novel, engaging, and challenging addition to the com- parative literature and an important source book for scholars of the U.S. welfare system.” —Gary Craig, professor emeritus, University of Hull, United Kingdom “Double Standard is accessible, responsible, historically minded, and clas- sically informed comparative social policy and political sociology. One can only hope others take Russell’s example of how to write and do the social sciences. While capturing nuanced differences among European countries, this updated Double Standard shows students and scholars the main areas of difference between European approaches to social inclusion and American individualism.” —Robert J. S. Ross, Clark University PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION “James Russell restores my faith in sociology as the best line of inquiry into nagging political questions that too often get assigned to narrow- minded economists. We need books like this to combat academic provin- cialism as much as to correct social inequality.” —John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s Magazine and author of The Selling of Free Trade 1100__447755__RRuusssseellll__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb iiii 1100//77//1100 22::3322 PPMM Double Standard Social Policy in Europe and the United States Second Edition James W. Russell ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham (cid:129) Boulder (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK 1100__447755__RRuusssseellll__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb iiiiii 1100//77//1100 22::3322 PPMM Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2011 by James W. Russell All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Russell, James W., 1944– Double standard : social policy in Europe and the United States / James W. Russell.—2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4422-0657-1 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4422-0658-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)— ISBN 978-1-4422-0659-5 (electronic) 1. Social policy—Comparative method. 2. Europe—Social policy. 3. United States—Social policy. 4. Social policy—History. I. Title. HN28.R87 2011 320.6094—dc22 2010021238 (cid:2) ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America 1100__447755__RRuusssseellll__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb iivv 1100//77//1100 22::3322 PPMM Contents Note to the Second Edition vii Preface ix 1 Introduction: From Social Problems to Social Policies 1 2 The Social Worldview of Medieval Christianity as Prologue 7 3 Secular Transitions and Assumptions 13 4 Marx, Durkheim, and the Limits of Laissez-Faire Capitalism 25 5 From Theory to Ideology 35 6 The Origins of Social Policy in Europe and the United States 43 7 Alternative Approaches to Social Policy 53 8 Social Cohesion and Inequality 63 9 Poverty 75 10 Unemployment: The Sword of Damocles 87 11 Support for Child Raising 103 12 Support for the Aged 115 13 Health Care 123 14 Ethnic and Racial Policy 133 v 1100__447755__RRuusssseellll__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb vv 1100//77//1100 22::3322 PPMM vi Contents 15 Incarceration as Social Policy 149 16 Summary: Principles for Progressive Social Policy 153 Afterword: Social Impacts of the Great Recession in Europe and the United States 159 Notes 163 Bibliography 177 Index 185 About the Author 195 1100__447755__RRuusssseellll__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb vvii 1100//77//1100 22::3322 PPMM Note to the Second Edition The first edition came out in late 2006, before the 2008 presidential campaign in the United States, the beginning of the Great Recession, and the passage of health reform. All three bore on the central theses and concerns of the book. European social versus American free-market capitalism emerged as a background theme of the presidential campaign. Republicans accused the Democrats of having a socialist agenda, by which they meant adopt- ing European-style reforms. Hedzig Herzman, writing in the New Yorker, captured the Republican insinuations: “The dystopia [John McCain] ab- hors is not some North Korean–style totalitarian ant heap but, rather, the gentle social democracies across the Atlantic, where, in return for higher taxes and without any diminution of civil liberty, people buy themselves excellent public education, anxiety-free health care, and decent public transportation.”1 But rather than defending the idea that there might be something useful to be learned from European experiences with similar problems, the Democrats defensively denied any such intentions. In a kind of “Who, me?” reaction, they denied being Europhiles and certainly denied being guilty of being socialists. Democrats knew the political lessons of American exceptionalism. Never admit to looking to other countries for ideas on how to reform your own. It is an attitude that has cost the United States dearly in social progress. It relies on keeping substantial parts of the public believing that they have the best possible living standard in the world, when they do not. vii 1100__447755__RRuusssseellll__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb vviiii 1100//77//1100 22::3322 PPMM viii Note to the Second Edition At the same time, those who work in policy studies routinely look to the experiences of other countries for ideas. They know that other coun- tries have more successfully addressed a number of central social prob- lems that continue to plague the United States. This book is an example. When the Great Recession hit (see the new afterword for this edition), a few writers such as Paul Krugman in the New York Times looked at how Europeans were coping, compared to Americans, given their much more developed social safety nets. But most did not. The contentious national debate over health care could not avoid some references to European and Canadian experiences at successfully insur- ing their whole populations at lower costs. But as the bills developed, American exceptionalism seemed to dominate discourse: Americans would solve—or not solve—it in their own way. The results of that effort are described and analyzed in chapter 13. Suffice it to say for now that even when health reform is fully implemented, the American system will still pale in comparison to European ones in terms of coverage, costs, and outcomes. I have updated this edition with the latest available statistical information. 1100__447755__RRuusssseellll__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb vviiiiii 1100//77//1100 22::3322 PPMM Preface Americans would have been stunned by the headline in a Spanish newspaper: “Government Wants to Convert Assistance to Depen- dent Persons into the Fourth Pillar of the Welfare State.”1 At a time when entitlement programs had long been in the crosshairs of American public policy, with both the Democratic and Republican parties attacking them as wasteful, unaffordable, and ill conceived, the government of Spain, a country in the second rank of European prosperity, was precisely intend- ing to build an entirely new major one. More revealing still was that the newspaper used the concept “welfare state” as a noncontroversial fact of life, unlike in the United States where it connotes a negative state of af- fairs to be avoided at all costs. Americans have been trained to shudder at the very idea of a welfare state. As individualists, they find the thought of accepting public assis- tance repugnant, a sign of failure. Europeans, on the contrary, view a wel- fare state as being a benefit to all members of society. Middle- as well as lower-class persons benefit from free health care, and everyone benefits if the welfare state insures social cohesion and peace in the population. The U.S. abhorrence of developing an extensive welfare state is directly related to its having the highest murder and crime rates in the western world. Instead of investing in a welfare state, it invests in a prison system, with the result being that it now has the highest incarceration rate in the world. European social programs provide safety nets so that downturns in eco- nomic life, such as unemployment, or in physical life, such as accidents and sickness, are not economically ruinous. But if Europe finds virtue in gov- ernment programs providing basic social security, the United States finds it ix 1100__447755__RRuusssseellll__FFiinnaallss..iinnddbb iixx 1100//77//1100 22::3322 PPMM