Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the President's Book Award of the Social Science History Association Winner of the 1999 Lionel Trilling Book Award of Columbia University Winner of the Thomas J. Wilson Prize of Harvard University Press Shifting the Color Line explores the historical and political roots of enduring racial conflict in American welfare policy, beginning with the New Deal. Through Social Security and other social insurance programs, white workers were successfully integrated into a strong national welfare state. At the same time, African-Americans--then as now disproportionately poor--were relegated to the margins of the welfare state, through decentralized, often racist, public assistance programs. Racial distinctions were thus built into the very structure of the American welfare state. By keeping poor blacks at arm's length while embracing white workers, national welfare policy helped to construct the contemporary political divisions that define the urban underclass. "A true understanding of welfare, Robert C. Lieberman argues in his provocative book, requires a hard look not at stereotypes but at history . . . Shifting the Color Line is an enlightening look at America's failure to ask, without racist or political motives, how poor people can make progress . . . The book is an intense history course that bypasses decades of deceptive rhetoric to get to the core issues of the welfare debate." --Alyssa Haywoode, Boston Globe "Robert Lieberman has written the best analysis available of how race structured the foundation of the American welfare state. It is a major achievement . . . combining historical depth with theoretical sophistication. All students of U.S. welfare and race politics will need to consult it." --Desmond King, Political Science Quarterly Robert C. Lieberman is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Columbia University.
Review
A true understanding of welfare, Robert C. Lieberman argues in his provocative book, requires a hard look not at stereotypes but at history. Built into the early architecture of social welfare programs, are nasty political fights and rigged compromises over race and class. To make his point, Lieberman plays bureaucratic archeologist, unearthing and comparing the administrative structures of three social welfare programs: Old-Age Insurance, Aid to Dependent Children, and Unemployment Insurance...Shifting the Color Line is an enlightening look at America's failure to ask, without racist or political motives, how poor people can make progress...The book is an intense history course that bypasses decades of deceptive rhetoric to get to the core issues of the welfare debate. Alyssa Haywoode
Review
s failure to ask, without racist or political motives, how poor people can make progress...The book is an intense history course that bypasses decades of deceptive rhetoric to get to the core issues of the welfare debate. -- Alyssa Haywoode, Boston Globe
Review
Shifting the Color Line is one of the best studies of race and social policy that I have read. Lieberman's analysis of the role of race in the development of America's peculiar welfare state and, in turn, the role of the welfare state in reshaping the politics of race is a tour de force. Boston Globe
Review
This is a splendid book. Lieberman writes with confidence and verve. He makes real analytic progress on such crucial topics as the development of the American welfare state, contemporary debates about welfare and--most important--the interplay between welfare policies and race politics...Lieberman deploys the institutional model with enormous sophistication. He shows how a thoughtful historical approach can deepen our understanding of both American politics and public policy. William Julius Wilson, Harvard University
Review
Shifting the Color Line is a giant leap forward in the analysis of American social policy, and will be recognized as an authoritative landmark for years to come. It is well-researched, well-written, and conceptually original and powerful. It will also be sure to excite controversy. James A. Morone, Brown University
Review
Shifting the Color Lineis one of the best studies of race and social policy that I have read. Lieberman's analysis of the role of race in the development of America's peculiarwelfare state and, in turn, the role of the welfare state in reshaping the politics of race is a tour de force.
Review
Robert Lieberman sets out to explain a 'profound puzzle' in the complicated history of race and the American welfare state
Lieberman combines historical and statistical analysis to show how and why
Clearly this book addresses issues of central importance to historians of race and social policy, and it does so with the kind of tightly argued thesis that is sure to stimulate further discussion and debate
he leaves us with important insights and evidence to build on in understanding the crucial, institutional dimensions of racial inequality. Rick Valelly, Swarthmore College
Synopsis
Despite the substantial economic and political strides that African-Americans have made in this century, welfare remains an issue that sharply divides Americans by race.
Shifting the Color Line explores the historical and political roots of enduring racial conflict in American welfare policy, beginning with the New Deal.
Through Social Security and other social insurance programs, white workers were successfully integrated into a strong national welfare state. At the same time, African-Americans--then as now disproportionately poor--were relegated to the margins of the welfare state, through decentralized, often racist, public assistance programs.
Over the next generation, these institutional differences had fateful consequences for African-Americans and their integration into American politics. Owing to its strong national structure, Social Security quickly became the closest thing we have to a universal, color-blind social program. On the other hand, public assistance--especially Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)--continued to treat African-Americans badly, while remaining politically weak and institutionally decentralized.
Racial distinctions were thus built into the very structure of the American welfare state. By keeping poor blacks at arm's length while embracing white workers, national welfare policy helped to construct the contemporary political divisions--middle-class versus poor, suburb versus city, and white versus black--that define the urban underclass.
Synopsis
Shifting the Color Line explores the historical and political roots of racial conflict in American welfare policy, beginning with the New Deal. Robert Lieberman demonstrates how racial distinctions were built into the very structure of the American welfare state.
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1996 Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize, Harvard University Press
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Honorable Mention, 1999 Gustavus Myers Center Outstanding Book Award, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights
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1997 President's Book Award, Social Science History Association
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1999 Lionel Trilling Book Award, Columbia University
About the Author
Robert C. Liebermanis Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs, <>Columbia University.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Race, Institutions, and Welfare in American Political Development
Race, Class, and the Organization of Social Policy: The Social Security Act
Old-Age Insurance: From Exclusion to Inclusion
Aid to Dependent Children and the Political Construction of the "Underclass"
Unemployment Insurance: Inclusion, Exclusion, and Stagnation
Race, Welfare, and the Future of American Politics
Appendix: Quantitative Study of ADC
Notes
Index