American Policy Making: Welfare as Ritual

ISBN: 0742517330

Author: Epstein, William M.

Condition: Used

Product Description American Policy Making will surely create controversy by challenging the prevailing ethos of humanitarianism. Epstein points to the perils of unrestricted subjectivity-the corruption of both social science and social discourse-and argues for a more disciplined approach to policy making. Rather than scientific theory and applied scientific practice, the social sciences have been appropriated to create ideology-corrective myths in support of social denial. The social sciences script fables of cure, prevention, and rehabilitation that falsely testify to the feasibility of inexpensive and culturally compatible solutions to deep social problems. Rather than providing effective service, social welfare programs are rituals of social values, expressing, proselytizing, reaffirming, and strengthening factional preferences. This is a uniquely unsentimental analysis of American social policy-making with great scope and depth, particularly in the personal social services, philosophic and historical dimensions. It is also a bold call to action to create more effective policies for social welfare. Review This incisive critique of social policy in America is long overdue. Situating the current polemic within the Romantic and Enlightenment philosophical traditions, Epstein concludes that our current course in social affairs embraces the former while corrupting the latter. The result is a welfare ethic centered on 'social efficiency,' rhetorical humanism married to fiscal stinginess. Anyone interested in plumbing the depths of the inadequacy of social provision in America will find this a provocative book. -- David Stoesz, Virginia Commonwealth University About the Author William M. Epstein is professor of social work at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada.