Synopses & Reviews
The culmination of twenty years of research and writing,
The Price of Citizenship traces the evolution of the welfare state from colonial relief programs to the war on poverty to our own age of "compassionate conservatism." Historian Michael B. Katz argues that in the last decades three great forces-a ferocious war on dependence; the devolution of authority from the federal government to the states; and the application of market models to social policy-have affected every element of the social contract and redefined both Republican and Democratic policy and rhetoric. Katz shows how these changes are propelling America toward a future of increased inequality and decreased security, while transforming citizenship from a right of birth to a privilege reserved for the fully employed.
A magisterial overview, incisive and bold, The Price of Citizenship is a new and indispensable classic work on American social policy.
Review
"Michael Katz is perhaps the premier historian of American social welfare." (Frances Fox Piven, author of Regulating the Poor)
"Michael Katz is of that rare breed of scholars who believes in changing the world he interprets." (Robin Kelley, author of Race Rebels)
Review
"Michael Katz is perhaps the premier historian of American social welfare." (Frances Fox Piven, author of Regulating the Poor)
"Michael Katz is of that rare breed of scholars who believes in changing the world he interprets." (Robin Kelley, author of Race Rebels)
Review
"Katz writes with a passion for the downtrodden and dispossessed, the intensity of which is buttressed by an array of facts and figures that dispel anecdotal blather."-Alan Miller, The Christian Science Monitor
"An instant classic. The Price of Citizenship is the first comprehensive examination of the attack on welfare...remarkably powerful and richly detailed."-Paul Rosenberg, The Denver Post
The definitive examination of social welfare in America, hailed as "a tour de force"--William Julius Wilson
About the Author
Michael B. Katz is a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of ten books, including
The Underserving Poor and
In the Shadow of the Poorhouse. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Oquossoc, Maine.