Catholic and Protestant Social Discourse and the American Welfare State

Bibliographic Data

ID12455192
AuthorsChristopher M Duncan (0000-0002-0645-4762, University of Dayton, corresponding author), Diane B Moore (b Mississippi State University)
Year2003
Volume7
Issue3
Pages57-83
Publication date2003-06-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Poverty (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1087-5549 • E-ISSN: 1540-7608
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1300/j134v07n03_04
OpenAlexW2077968294
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

John Tropman (1986, 1995), among others, develops the notion of a Catholic ethic which he juxtaposes to the more traditional (at least in America) notion of the Protestant ethic as theorized by Max Weber (1905). Using his work and discourse analysis as our starting points, we attempt to construct our own complimentary conception of the Catholic ethic through a series of readings of historical documents and make a case for comprehending the general tone and direction of the discourse on the American welfare state during the New Deal and Great Society eras under the idiomatic rubric of this ethic. Subsequently, we will make the case for understanding the social and political discourse surrounding the proposal and passage of TANF in light of the more traditional Protestant ethic. The ultimate goal of the work is to re-frame the welfare debate in America as a struggle not just between competing methods of “problem solving,” but, more importantly, as a paradigmatic competition between two divergent aspirants for political-cultural hegemony in the arena of American social discourse

Construct (python library · Epistemology · Hegemony · Political science · Politics · Protestant work ethic · Protestantism · Rubric · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Welfare state · Work (physics · Work ethic · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions

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