The White Welfare State: The Racialization of U.S. Welfare Policy

Groundbreaking research into the historical relationship between race and social welfare. Deborah Ward’s The White Welfare State is the first book by a political scientist to fully explore the complex interrelationship between racial attitudes and the origins of social welfare policy in America. Her compact work breaks new ground by showing that Mothers’ Pensions (the Progressive-era precursors to modern welfare programs) were based on a policy of racial discrimination against blacks and other minorities. Ward’s rigorous analysis demonstrates how the creation and implementation of the Mothers’ Pensions were riven by questions of who
deserved
social welfare - questions which directly influenced the more sweeping welfare programs of the Depression and post-War periods. Ward uses this story to draw out larger conclusions about the persistent role of race in American politics and society, including critical observations into how national and state governments have institutionalized the role of race in their administrative apparatus. Deborah Ward very ably reminds us that racial attitudes were an essential element of Progressive-era political thought, and an influential factor in the development and implementation of social policies. Her book will be an important entry in the debate over the role of racial attitudes in the history of American social policy.