Power Resources Theory and the Welfare State

Sample

Eric Hoffer

Opinions on the critical social problems of our times, such as capitalism, work, middle class, survival through learning, energy crisis, China, Black studies, and more.

Sample

Adam Yuet Chau

"Based on a total of 18 months of fieldwork in Shaanbei (northern Shaanxi Province), this book is the first book-length ethnographic case study of the revival of a popular religious temple in contemporary rural China. The book reveals that "doing popular religion" is much more complex than praying to gods and burning incense. It examines the organizational and cultural logics that inform the staging of popular religious activities such as temple festivals. It also shows the politics behind the religious revival: the village-level local activists who seize upon temples and temple associations as a valuable political, economic, and symbolic resource, and the different local state agents who interact with temple associations and temple bosses." "The study sheds unique light on shifting state-society relationships in the reform era and is of interest to scholars and students in Asian Studies, the social sciences, and religious and ritual studies."--BOOK JACKET.

Sample

William M. Epstein

Welfare in America is a scathing attack on the social scientists, policy makers, and politicians responsible for programs meant to help our nation's poorest citizens. William M. Epstein charges that most current social welfare programs are not held to credible standards in their design or their results. Rather than spending less on such research and programs, however, Epstein suggests we should spend much more, and do the job right. The American public and policymakers must be able to rely on social science research for objective, credible information when trying to solve problems of employment, affordable housing, effective health care, and family integrity. But, Epstein contends, politicians treat welfare issues as ideological battlegrounds; they demand immediate results from questionable data and implement policies long before social researchers can complete their analyses. Social scientists often play into the political agenda, supporting poorly conceived programs and doing little to test and revise them. Analyzing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the recent welfare reform act, Food Stamps, Medicaid, job training, social services, and other programs, Epstein systematically challenges the conservative's vain hope that neglect is therapeutic for the poor, as well as the liberal's conceit that a little bit of assistance is sufficient.

Sample

Howard L. Harrod

The power of religion to preserve individual and group identity is perhaps nowhere more evident than among Native American peoples. In the Becoming and Remaining a People the author shows how the oral traditions and ritual practices of Northern Plains Indians developed, how they were transformed at critical points in their history, and how they provided them with crucial means of establishing and maintaining their respective identities.