Capitalism, Corporate Liberalism and Social Policy: The Origins of the Social Security Act of 1935
This paper looks at the involvement and influence of capitalists on the Social Security Act of 1935. Instead of positing direct corporate control, the research shows how social security was formulated with in a corporate liberal ideological framework which defined problems and their solutions in terms of putting the maintenance of capitalism above the needs of individual workers. This framework set the limits of the social insurance debates long before the act itself was written. The thesis is that the Social Security Act came about as a result of an interplay between the environment and an ideology advanced by corporate leaders and reform-minded academicians.
Policy intellectuals, class struggle and the construction of old age: the creation of the Social Security Act of 1935.
Studies in the political economy of aging criticize social policies for the aged for reinforcing class inequalities and doing little to help many aged persons, yet few use this perspective to explore policy development. Estes' critique of dominant conceptions of aging is the starting point for this study of the historical development of the U.S. Social Security Act. When the conflict between capital and labor is placed at the center of analysis, we see that conceptions of aging as inevitable physical and mental decline, and the subsequent institutionalization of retirement, emerged early in the 20th century from work place conflicts over changes in the production process and worker productivity. The Social Security Act embraced those conceptions of the 'problems' of aging most consistent with the needs of capitalist industry, and issues involving class struggles were redefined as issues of biological aging and decline. This paper explores the dynamics of this process and the role of businessmen and policy intellectuals. Understanding class struggles over the definition of problems is just as important as understanding class struggles over particular policies. Focusing on problem definitions also allows us as researchers to see how we may unwittingly reinforce the inequalities we struggle to overcome.
War and Society: The United States, 1941-1945
A discussion of the radical alteration of the character of American society caused by World War II. The war redefined the relationship of government to the individual and of individuals to each other, and it posed questions about the relationship between civilians and the military, between liberty and security, between special interests and national purpose.