Research Catalog

Title

And the poor get welfare : the ethics of poverty in the United States / Warren R. Copeland.

Author

Copeland, Warren R.

Publication

Nashville : Abingdon Press in cooperation with the Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy, Washington, D.C., c1994.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy (Washington, D.C.)

Description

210 p.; 23 cm.

Summary

"Cries for the elimination of welfare rise at the very time that the amount of poverty in the United States grows. And the Poor Get Welfare is an ethical and theological analysis of both of these realities. It sets the context for this analysis by surveying the current situation and the histories of poverty and welfare as public policy issues in the United States. The heart of Copeland's ethical analysis is the critical reading of the very different approaches to poverty and welfare of four recent influential writers on poverty and welfare: Charles Murray, Lisbeth Schorr, Lawrence Mead, and Frances Fox Piven. In each case, he describes the author's basic policy position but also asks how each views individuality, community, worth, motivation, and hope.On the basis of the answers to these ethical questions, Copeland identifies theological parallels to each of the four positions. He then offers his own contemporary public theology rooted in process theology, but expressed in everyday language about his own experience. He uses this theology to explore the deeper meaning of individuality, community, worth, motivation, and hope.In the final three chapters, this volume proposes fuller understandings of poverty and of welfare and then returns to contemporary public policy and proposes principles for reform. All of this is based upon Copeland's contemporary public theology and the ethical insights drawn from it" -- BACK COVER.

Subject

• Poverty > Moral and ethical aspects > United States
• Public welfare > Moral and ethical aspects > United States
• Social ethics > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-210).

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

And the poor get poorer (and younger) -- Nothing new: the history of poverty as a public issue in the United States -- How the poor came to get welfare: the history of welfare policy in the United States -- The virtue of being poor but independent: Charles Murray -- Developing competent people: Lisbeth Schorr -- Behaving like a good poor citizen: Lawrence Mead -- Struggling against an unjust system: Frances Fox Piven -- World views, theologies, and social ethics -- A theology of freedom and community -- Understanding the human meaning of poverty: William Julius Wilson and beyond -- The welfare reform wars: Daniel Patrick Moynihan and beyond -- Where do we go from here? Bill Clinton and beyond.

ISBN

0687013860 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^^94009873^

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library