Egalitarianism and the undeserving poor

Journal of Political Philosophy 5 (4):327–350 (1997)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Recently in the U.S. a near-consensus has formed around the idea that it would be desirable to "end welfare as we know it," in the words of President Bill Clinton.1 In this context, the term "welfare" does not refer to the entire panoply of welfare state provision including government sponsored old age pensions, government provided medical care for the elderly, unemployment benefits for workers who have lost their jobs without being fired for cause, or aid to the disabled. "Welfare" in contemporary debates means "cash, food, or housing assistance to healthy nonaged persons with low incomes."2 In the U.S., the main policy that qualifies as welfare in this sense is Aid to Families with Dependent Children.3 Although contemporary attacks on welfare are identified with conservative policy analysts such as Charles Murray, in fact dissatisfaction with the policies Murray targets for criticism is widespread among liberal intellectuals. For example, in a sharply critical review essay on Murray's book Losing Ground, Christopher Jencks worries that "the social policies that prevailed from 1964 to 1980 often seemed to reward vice" instead of rewarding virtuous conduct by the poor. The problem as Jencks, following Murray, views it is not easy to repair, because "if you set out to help people who are in trouble, you almost always find that most of them are to some extent responsible for their present troubles. Few victims are completely innocent. Helping those who are not doing their best to help themselves poses extraordinarily difficult moral and political problems."4 David T. Ellwood writes that Murray “is almost certainly correct in stating that welfare does not reflect or reinforce our most basic values. He is also correct in stating that no amount of tinkering with benefit levels or work rules will change that.”

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Rethinking welfare: a critical perspective.Iain Ferguson - 2002 - London: SAGE. Edited by Michael Lavalette & Gerry Mooney.
Multiculturalism and Welfare Reform.John D. Jones - 1994 - Philosophy in the Contemporary World 1 (2):11-18.
The philosophy of the welfare state.Norman P. Barry - 1990 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 4 (4):545-568.
Prioritarianism, Levelling Down and Welfare Diffusion.Ingmar Persson - 2011 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 14 (3):307-311.
Fellow Citizenship and U.S. Welfare Policy.Steven Daskal - 2008 - International Journal of Applied Philosophy 22 (2):281-301.
A History of Animal Welfare Science.Donald M. Broom - 2011 - Acta Biotheoretica 59 (2):121-137.
Political philosophy and social welfare: essays on the normative basis of welfare provision.Raymond Plant - 1980 - Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Edited by Harry Lesser & Peter Taylor-Gooby.
Is welfare a legitimate Government goal?Nathan Glazer - 1990 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 4 (4):479-491.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
158 (#111,782)

6 months
7 (#175,814)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Richard J. Arneson
University of California, San Diego

Citations of this work

Responsibility and the consequences of choice.Serena Olsaretti - 2009 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 109 (1pt2):165-188.
Smoking and Social Justice.Kristin Voigt - 2010 - Public Health Ethics 3 (2):91-106.
Shameless luck egalitarians.Adina Preda & Kristin Voigt - 2022 - Journal of Social Philosophy 54 (1):41-58.
Against the asymmetry of desert.Jeffrey Moriarty - 2003 - Noûs 37 (3):518–536.

View all 26 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Add more references