Wage Wars
Institutional Politics, WPA Wages, and the Struggle for U.S. Social Policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7256993 |
|---|---|
| Authors | E Amenta (0000-0001-7019-1656, New York University, corresponding author), Drew Halfmann (0000-0003-1417-7408, New York University) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 506-506 |
| Publication date | 2000-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/000312240006500402 |
| OpenAlex | W4385886401 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 67 |
| References cited | 58 |
The WPA was the most expensive and politically prominent U.S. social program of the 1930s, and the generosity and very nature of U.S. social policy in its formative years was contested through the WPA. In this article, an institutional politics theory of social policy is elaborated that incorporates the influence of both institutional conditions and political actors: Institutions mediate the influence of political actors. Specifically, it is argued that underdemocratized political systems and patronage-oriented party systems dampen the cause of generous social spending and the impact of those struggling for it. State actors, left-party regimes, and social movements spur social policy, but only under favorable institutional conditions. To appraise this theory, key Senate roll-call votes on WPA wage rates are examined, as well as state-level variations in WPA wages at the end of the 1930s. The analyses, which include multiple regression and qualitative comparative analysis, support the theory
Criminology · Economics · Generosity · Labour economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Social policy · Sociology · State (computer science · Wage · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Conditional Hypotheses in Comparative Social Science
The Impact of Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Social Movement Organizations on Public Policy
Development Sociology at the Subnational Scale
The Targets of Social Movements
Spaces between Fields
What We Know About the Development of Social Policy
Gouverner (par) les finances publiques
Out of many, one? U.S. sub-national political-economies in the post-welfare reform era
Seeing the Local State
Breaking the silence
The Politics of Children's Health Insurance Policy
The Sources of Social Power
Collective Killings in Rural China during the Cultural Revolution
Rethinking Homicide
Unions, Solidarity, and Striking
Tqca
The state of domestic affairs
State liberalism, female supervisors, and the gender wage gap
Union Threat, Countermovement Organization, and Labor Policy in the States, 1944-1960
Timing Matters
Global Norms, Local Activism, and Social Movement Outcomes
Privatization, Business Attraction, and Social Services across the United States
Overlapping disadvantages and the racial/ethnic graduation gap among students attending selective institutions
Chaos and the Abuse of Power
Political Mediation and American Old-Age Security Exceptionalism
Culture Wars in the Workplace
Direct democracy and the adoption of recreational marijuana legalization in the United States, 2012–2019
The rising importance of local government in the United States
Toward a new political democracy index
Exploitation in contemporary societies
Racial Considerations and Social Policy in the 1930s
Power to the People!”
From the “most fateful” to the “most fatal” social force? Conservatism and democracy reconsidered
Income inequality and social institutions
State Policies and Gender Earnings Inequality
Labor History Bibliography, 2000
Comparative-Historical Social Systems and Conservatism
The Spectacle of American Conservatism
The Party of Lincoln and the Politics of State Fair Employment Practices Legislation in the North, 1945-1964
Why No Trade-off between 'Guns and Butter'? Armed Forces and Social Spending in the Advanced Industrial Democracies, 1960-1993
Organizational Success and Worker Dignity
Racialized Conflict and Policy Spillover Effects
Class Forces, Political Institutions, and State Intervention
Redistributing toward the Rich
US Social Policy in Comparative and Historical Perspective
Political Parties and the Sociological Imagination
American Exceptionalism Revisited
Expensive Childcare and Short School Days = Lower Maternal Employment and More Time in Childcare? Evidence from the American Time Use Survey
Qualitative Comparative Analysis in Critical Perspective
Volatility and Growth in Populations of Rural Associations
QCA, 25 Years after “The Comparative Method
Testing Theories about Advocacy and Public Policy
State‐Level Determinants of Hate Crime Reporting
The Organizational and Social Foundations of Worker Resistance
Age for Leisure? Political Mediation and the Impact of the Pension Movement on U.S. Old-Age Policy
Privatizing the Welfare State
A struggle on two fronts
The Uneven Patterning of Welfare Benefits at the Twilight of AFDC
A Meta-Analysis of Workplace Ethnographies
Urine or You're Out
Taxation and democracy
Voices of protest
Southern politics in State and Nation
Politics and jobs
The politics of pensions
Polyarchy
Roosevelt and Hopkins
Placing Parties in American Politics
Bringing the State Back In
In the shadow of the poorhouse
Race and the Organization of Welfare Policy
Bold Relief
Dismantling the Welfare State?
The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the City Bosses
The Transition from Capitalism to Socialism
Protecting Soldiers and Mothers
Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1946
Bring Back the WPA
Minister of Relief
The Interregnum of Despair
The Age of Roosevelt
Voices of Protest
The three worlds of welfare capitalism
The WPA and Federal Relief Policy
Why Not Equal Protection? Explaining the Politics of Public Social Spending in Britain, 1900-1911, and the United States, 1880s-1920
The Programmatic Emergence of the Social Security State
Capitalists Did Not Want the Social Security Act
Social Protest, Hegemonic Competition, and Social Reform
Welfare Capitalism and the Social Security Act of 1935
Power, Politics, and State Autonomy in the Development of Social Citizenship
Stolen Thunder? Huey Long's "Share Our Wealth," Political Mediation, and the Second New Deal
Limiting Liberalism
Regional Receptivity to Reform
Minister of Relief
Politics, Institutions, and Welfare Spending in Industrialized Democracies, 1960-82
Employers' Liability and Workmen's Compensation
Bringing the Public Back in
The Unemployed Workers Movement of the 1930s
Where to Begin
Party and Patronage
Social Democracy, Christian Democracy, Constitutional Structure, and the Welfare State
Political Resources and the Growth of Welfare in Affluent Capitalist Democracies, 1960-1982
| Unique citing works | 60 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,68 |
| Citation span | 2001 - 2024 (24) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 65 |