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Recommended Readings about Social Insurance
- Hunter, Robert. (1904). Poverty: Social Conscience in the Progressive
Era. Peter d'A. Jones, Ed. New York: Harper Torchbooks (1965),
318-340.
A Reccommendation from Professor Fay Lomax Cook from our March 2006 newsletter:
Fay Lomax Cook, Professor of Human Development & Social Policy at
Northwestern University and Director of the Institute for Policy Research,
uses a book
written in 1904 by Robert Hunter, titled Poverty: Social Conscience in
the Progressive Era to convey to her students the state of our Nation
before
the implementation of the various social insurance and public assistance
programs we have today. Hunter details the wrenching poverty of the early
20th century when neither the government nor industry offered citizens
any protection against the normal risks of life. Additionally, he offered
policy
suggestions aimed at enhancing the lives of the poor - many of which,
though not seriously considered at the time, are strikingly similar to
programs
that exist today. Dr. Cook contends that using this text, in her undergraduate
and graduate social and public policy courses, allows her students to
better grasp the consequences of rejecting the social contract in favor
of privatization
and the tyranny of the market. In particular, she asserts that the text
demonstrates the greater risk that was born by individuals in the absence
of social insurance
programs that provided retirement security, or help for those with disabilities,
who are unemployed, or who are faced with the death of a spouse or caretaker.
Furthermore, her students gain from the Hunter reading a better understanding
of the political hurdles that had to be surmounted in order to change
the status quo and implement social insurance and public assistance programs.
(For her discussion of these points, see pages 7 to 9 of her book: Fay
Lomax
Cook and Edith J. Barrett. Support for the American Welfare State: The
Views of Congress and the Public. New York: Columbia University Press,
1992.)
- Conason, Joe. (2005). The Raw Deal: How the Bush Republicaions
Plan to Destroy Social Security and the Legacy of the New Deal.
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. California: PoliPointPress,
LLC.
- Geyman, John P. (2005). Shredding the Social Contract: The
Privatization of Medicare. Monroe, ME: Common
Courage Press.
- McGovern, George. (2006). Social Security and the Golden Age:
An Essay on the New American Demographic. Golden, CO: Fulcrum
Publishing.
- Marmor, Theodore R. & Mashaw, Jerry L. (21 March 2006). Understanding
Social Insurance: Fairness, Affordability, and the 'Modernization'
of Social Security and Medicare. Health
Affairs Web Exclusive.
- Quadagno, Jill. (2005). One Nation, Uninsured: Why the U.S.
Has No National Health Insurance. Oxford, UK: Oxford University
Press.
- The Century Foundation. (2005). Social Security Reform (Revised
2005 Edition): A Century Foundation Guide to the Issues. NY,
NY: The Century Foundation Press.
- The Century Foundation. (2006). The Basics: Public Policy in
an Aging America. NY, NY: The Century Foundation Press.
- Collins, Chuck et al. (Eds). (2004). The Wealth Inequality
Reader. Cambridge, MA: Dollars and Sense/Economic Affairs
Bureau.
- Fireside, Daniel, Miller, John, and the Dollars & Sense Collective.
(Eds). (2006). Real World Macro, 23rd edition. Boston,
MA: Dollars and Sense/Economic Affairs Bureau, Inc.
- Fireside, Daniel, Tilly, Chris, and the Dollar & Sense Collective.
(Eds). (2006). Real World Micro,
13th edition. Boston, MA: Dollars and Sense/Economic
Affairs Bureau, Inc.
- Baker, Dean. (2006). The Conservative Nanny State. Washington,
D.C. Center for Economic and Policy Research. Available
as a free e-book.
- Check out Harry Moody's (AARP) Picks for the Best
Books about Social Security.
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