Ending Welfare As We Know It (Again): Welfare State Retrenchment, 1989-1995

The Stages of the Policy Process and the Equal Rights Amendment, 1972–1982

“…Thus, the findings presented here are important to political sociologists interested in accurately modeling the policy process, regardless of an interest in the way that movements matter. By extension, our findings may apply to other realms of policy making, including the formulation of economic policy and regulation (Hall 1987;Schneiberg and Bartley 2001;Bartley and Schneiberg 2002), welfare expansion and retrenchment (Quadagno 1987;Soule and Zylan 1997;Zylan and Soule 2000;Myles and Quadagno 2002), and other policies related to state building (Skowronek 1982;Gilbert and Howe 1991). As public opinion and social movements are seen as competing influences on legislation, we might also conceive of private versus public interests as differentiated forms of influence (Downs 1957;Mueller 2003).…”

“…With few exceptions (Soule et al 1999;Zylan and Soule 2000;Mintrom 1997;King, Cornwall, and Dahlin 2005), research on state policy change has focused on the final adoption of a particular policy (Burstein, Bauldry, and Froese 2005), typically conceptualizing the process as a dichotomous phenomenon. In other words, most studies "focus on the final, and most visible, stage of the policymaking process" (Burstein and Linton 2002, p. 400), paying little attention to how agendas are set and to the role of social movements and other factors in this process (Burstein, Einwohner, and Hollander 1995).…”

“… See Amenta et al (1992),Amenta et al (1994),Amenta and Poulsen (1996),Soule and Zylan (1997),Grattet, Jenness, and Curry (1998),Soule and Earl (2001),Zylan and Soule (2000),McCammon et al (2001),Burstein and Linton (2002),Schneiberg and Bartley (2001),Soule (2004),Schneiberg and Soule (2005), andSoule and Olzak (2004).12 We recognize that the ERA may, in fact, be different from other types of public policies. First, as a Constitutional amendment, there was already a certain level of support by the broader public, as indicated by the fact that it had passed both houses of Congress.…”

Sponsored Social Change in a Public Housing Project

“…The expanse of the federal government's devolution may be understood in terms of the growth of "the independent sector" because the state has increasingly turned to this sector for assistance (Zylan & Soule, 2000;Brodkin, Fuqua, & Thoren, 2002;Salamon, 1995Salamon, , 2002. Based on estimates from the Independent Sector, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for nonprofit organizations, there are approximately 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the United States.…”

Red Counties, Blue Counties, and Occupational Segregation by Sex and Race

“…Although Democratic candidates, more so than their Republican opponents, argue for intervention in the economy to soften harsh free market outcomes, their proposals tend to be moderate. Indeed, Bill Clinton, the only Democrat elected to the presidency in the last quarter of a century, campaigned promising to "end welfare as we know it" and signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, which dismantled Aid to Families with Dependent Children, sharply cut spending on aid to the poor, and implemented stricter eligibility requirements for relief payments (Lichter 1997;McCrate and Smith 1998;Zylan and Soule 2000;Soss et al 2001).…”