The document provides an analytical overview of eight books that examine the welfare state from different perspectives such as economic, narrative, and gender-based analyses. It summarizes each book's approach to the welfare state, including key events and policies discussed as well as strengths and weaknesses. The books cover topics like the political origins of social policy, the role of women in reform movements, narratives of the Great Depression, industrial workers during 1919-1939, and regulatory functions of public welfare. The analysis highlights how the authors approached the welfare state from differing viewpoints such as structural, materialist, oral history, social history, and Marxist.

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Bryan Ramirez
History 300 A
December 18, 2014
Analytical Approach of the Welfare State
Different authors have different approaches in terms of analyzing the Welfare State.
There are about eight different books on which the authors analyze the welfare state in terms of
different points of view. The eight different books had different terms of analyzing a time period
based on what their perspective was. From the economic perspective to a narrative perspective as
well as gender analysis of the specific topic they are focusing on. The authors of the books had a
different viewpoint as well as different background of the book they are writing about. The
welfare state is defined in Webster’s dictionary as “a social system based on the assumption by a
political state of primary responsibility for the individual and social welfare of its citizens.”
In her book “Protecting Soldiers and Mothers the Political Origins of Social Policy in the
United States” Theda Skocpol, explains the political origins of social policy. Skocpol explains a
“structured polity “approach to explaining the origins and transformations of national systems of
social provision. Using the analytical approach tools to approach the social policy, Theda
Skocpol uses three parts that examines on social spending regime, failure of a paternalist welfare
state and the foundations for the materialist welfare state. Theda Skocpol keeps analyzing social
welfare throughout different times of history as well as showing the effects of it socially. She
looks at social assemblies, their motivations and activities as references to. She inspects an extra
model put forward by women, who built on the gender-role scenarios of the times to shape out an
animated role for themselves in politics, openly welfare policy. “The United States Employment

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service was set up as an emergency agency during the war but it was quickly denationalized
afterward. (Skocpol 480)i This quote on page 480 shows on how the employment service got
affected as an effect after the war on which not only focused on how the war changed during this
time. Skocpol’s approach weaknesses were that they did not focus entirely on ethnic minorities
as well the lower class during the time period and lastly the approach of men during that time.
For example she argues that men did not develop the gender-solidarity political plans that
women did during this time period.
In the book, “Creating A Female Dominion in American Reform 1890-1935” by Robyn
Muncy she explains the extension of the white female lady class struggle and fight to get a
female alteration from the progressive era to the new deal era. She claims that during the
Progressive era, female reformers constructed an interlocking set of organizations that tried to
control child welfare policy. “In 1914, war in Europe began rearranging the political alliances
responsible for child welfare in the United States.”(Munsy 94)ii. Her approach expands our
generous understanding of materialist involvement and shows how women used gendered role
prospects to make not a welfare policy on which later on plays a big role on history and it shows
that throughout her book. The Female terrain at which delivered jobs for women in making
policy and managing its application. Amongst the positive aspects of her method it would be that
she does not study the role of men, working class women (or men), or various ethnic groups in
welfare state creation. She focuses rather solely on middle-class white women. As this
showcases the welfare state of the gender role during that time it also illustrates to the reader on
how during the progressive era towards the new deal era and how it changed from those two
moments drastically during this time.

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In the book Hard Times by Studs Terkel uses oral history to describe the great depression
and how the atmosphere was like during that time. He focuses completely of the small time
period in United States history by giving colorful imageries and examples of what it was like for
a person living in that time period. Terkel uses oral history to describe the welfare state in his
book as by providing visual descriptions of what was like during the great depression. Terkel
allows those who were a part of the Great Depression to explain in their own words how it
affected them and how radically the atmosphere altered during that time. For example in Book
two during the section called Old families, the author narrates a woman named Diana Morgan.
Diana Morgan during this time was a teenage girl that unfortunately loss of her personal
valuables likes many people during this time. As stated in this quote, “The first thing I noticed
about the depression was that my great grandfather’s house was lost, about to be sold for
taxes.”(Terkel 153)iii”.This part of the book it is especially successful in giving the reader a sense
of what it was like to really be there to witness the fears and concerns, the shocks that came with
the Great Depression and as well the hardships many people faced. Among the flaws, the
entities Terkel quotes often and saw things from their own incomplete viewpoints and this
sometimes prevented them from seeing the big picture. At the same time, memory is not always
accurate. It can exaggerate some events, and forget others and as well it could bring out false
information. As many times the welfare state in the book is described as a vulnerable and weak
as examples were shown throughout the text and the personal accounts that were used to
showcase it such as key witness events that were experience during that time.
In “Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago 1919-1939” Lizabeth Cohen
examines industrial workers from 1919 to 1939. She splits the chapters from 1919 and the living
circumstances that the public live in Chicago to 1939 as they consent the new deal. Lizabeth

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Cohen slants to use pictures and graphs to setting on the message she was notifying the reader
about the time period. Cohen uses the viewpoint of social history to lighten the role of working
class ethnic groups in shaping New Deal policy. Cohen reflects how rather self-governing ethnic
groups are brought together through a diversity of courses, beginning with welfare
entrepreneurship and mass culture in the 1920s, and then by the irresistible financial disaster of
the Great Depression. As Lizabeth Cohen quoted on a passage of the book “The Great
Depression replayed this dynamic of employer promises and worker disillusionment in even
greater intensity and left workers surer that even that employers valued welfare capitalism and it
was convenient and cheap.”iv (Cohen279-280) .As this quote showcases the welfare state of the
working class and shows on how many employers were during this time. The welfare state is
examined differently in this book because of only analyzing one city rather than analyzing the
whole nation on which it will lead to different perspectives on the economic resource during that
time. The disadvantage of her viewpoint it only focuses on one city rather than a whole. Another
disadvantage is how she only focused on the industrial workers rather than the farmers or other
workers that worked outside the industrial industry.
In “Regulating the Poor the Functions of Public Welfare” the authors Frances Fox Piven
and Richard A Cloward, analyze the book by showcasing the public to understand the welfare
system and the socioeconomic role in the United States. The goal of this book according to
historian, D.S Byrne “The objective of this book is to specify the functions of public welfare, to
account for the character and scope of relief giving by the state in Western Industrial
Societies.”(Byrne 527) v.Many times in the book Piven and Cloward give different examples of
the welfare system from the early history of poor relief financially for families on the great
depression. Piven and Cloward analyze the welfare state creation from a Marxist approach as to

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describe the welfare state in the book, therefore, they showcase the class struggle, and social
control. The welfare is used to keep the masses under control during tough times, they argue and
it is cut back during better times so workers will be required to take low-wage jobs offered by
industrial employers. “One influential stream of contemporary interpretation has roots in
Marxism, although unlike the “logic of capitalism’ perspective, it does not focus on systemic
requirements of capitalism, but rather on the class conflicts which emerge in capitalist
relations.”(Piven, Cloward 424) vi .The negative aspect is that it only focuses on the working
class and not on the issues that were occurring during this time.
In “The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly” by Ellis W. Hawley, he makes an
examination of the time period of the 1930’s to the beginning of the 40’s. Ellis Hawley begins
the book by showing the readers a financial vision of the procedure of the new deal. Hawley
provided a history of the national industrial policy in the United States that occurred in the
1930’s. This brief history gave the readers a sense of how the industrial industry as well as the
working classes was getting affected economically. “For the group of congressmen standing
behind the President’s desk on the morning of June 16, 1933, the occasion was obviously a
momentous one.vii”(Hawley19).Hawley’s intention of this quote was to showcase the importance
of the new deal and how during that time it was something new that could of help the economy.
The economic insight of this book showcased the social welfare on throughout how the economy
was handled during that time. Hawley creates from the viewpoint of an economic analysis and
approaches it as an economist. As in the title it makes clear, he examines the random tendencies
within the Roosevelt organization in fondness to trade control. In the book there are three
conflicting groups, he showcases, the pugnacious policies and government to control the
economic policy during that time. One group, the anti-trusters in the tradition of Supreme Court

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justice Louis Brandeis, wanted to break up monopolies, another group pursued to have
businesses manage cartels, like they had during WWI as in the book showcased, and then there
were the social managers who shaped the NIRA, and the NRA who required the organization to
fare the monopolies during that time. From our viewpoint, one of Hawley’s difficulties is that his
viewpoint of the New Deal policy is only a small part of the efforts to showcase and deal with
the Great Depression’s economic factors and only one feature of the growth of government rule
and the welfare state that was showcased in the book during this time. The welfare state was
showcased economically by providing more financially statistics rather than the other books
viewing the welfare state as a social structure. Hawley tend to only focus on numbers and most
of the book bashes
In the book “The Hungry Years a Narrative History of the Great Depression” by T.H
Walkins he tells the story of the Great Depression through the eyes of the people who lived
during that time period. T.H Walkins uses a little of oral history as well as autobiographies, local
newspapers during that time and scholarly books to showcase the voices of men and women in
this time period of life-threatening crisis that was the great depression. As each chapter it gives
different examples of different people and how each of them got affected during that
overwhelming time. Watkins uses narrative to showcase the social welfare by providing
examples of people’s accounts and written documents during that time. His specific importance
slopes to be on the involvement of the common people and less of the economy policy during
this time. He focused analyzing the insights that came with it as showcasing on how many
programs failed during that time. He also includes a lot of material on the involvements of black
Americans mainly share croppers during that time on this book. The negative aspects of this
book for example is that we didn’t learn that the farm economy was down through the 1920's

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until page 340 after Watkins had already discussed the reasons of the Depression and after
another section that took us up to the end of the thirties. The social welfare was described in a
narrative story on which it was out of the place and showcased many flaws as in time. A flaw
that the book has it’s that the interviews that were conducted could not be truly accurate
In the book, Freedom from Fear the American People in Depression and War, 1929-
1945 by David M Kennedy he says about the story of how Americans joined together, and
eventually overcame, in the face of those unmatched tragedy during the great depression leading
up to World War Two. As many reviewers on different websites advised the book is a role to the
"Oxford History of the United States" series, on which it plays an important role on during that
time period by getting different perspectives of historians that could be seen as the book
advances. In this book, Kennedy offers a brief reflection and a mixture of study by loads of
historians, as well as giving his own separate explanations of key events and persons and an
illustration of this is on the beginning of the book as he showcases examples of certain big events
that occurred during that time. Kennedy also uses narrative, but focuses on policy and policy
makers as well and tries to synthesize a lot of analysis into his narrative. He gives his insights of
what of a narrative point of view by providing a clearly written book on which helps showcased
his analyzes clearly and efficiently.
As many times analyzing the social welfare is different for many people. From analyzing
as a socialist towards analyzing it as an economist. The authors analyzed it differently from
viewpoints on which it provided a clear insight on the status of the United States during the time
the books focus on. Many times these examples have different viewpoints on which are
compared differently by showcasing their strengths and weaknesses of them. In conclusion, the

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different approaches made a huge impact on explaining and detailing the social welfare and the
economic input during that time easier to grasp.
i Theda Skocpol."Chapter 2." Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Originsof Social Policy in theUnited
States. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1992. 142.Print.
ii Robyn Muncy. "Chapter 3." Creating a Female Dominion in American Reform, 1890-1935.New York: Oxford UP,
1991.92. Print.
iii Studs, Terkel. "Book Two." Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression.New York: New, 2000.153.
Print.
iv Lizabeth,Cohen "Chapter 5." Makinga New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago,1919-1939.Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1990.279-80.Print.
v Bryne, D. S. "Review: Regulating the Poor." Rev. of Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare.
Sociology Sept. 1975: 527.Jstor. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.
vi Richard A.Cloward. "Chapter 12." Regulating the Poor: The Functions of the Public Welfare.By Frances Fox Piven.
New York: Vintage, 1971. 424.Print
vii Ellis,WayneHawley “Chapter 1." The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly: A Study in Economic
Ambivalence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1966.19. Print.