Abstract
There was a time when it might have been thought that the theme of equality would be submerged in the affluent society. In 1958, J. K. Galbraith noted in his book The affluent society that “few things are more evident in modern social history than the decline of interest in equality as an economic issue”. Yet in actual fact, in the 1960s and 1970s, it became a central concern of American intellectual and social life. The question of equality was fiercely argued out between experts and ideologists, mainly because it had become a problem of practical policy as a result of the determination of the political authorities to tackle certain inequalities as such, together with the social problem of poverty. “For the first time in American history, equality became a major object of government policy; and also for the first time, with perhaps the exception of the Freedmen’s Bureau of the Reconstruction period, governments not only made laws but constituted themselves instruments of egalitarian policy.”1
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Notes
J. R. Pole: The pursuit of equality in American history (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1978), p. 326.
On the subject of this policy see, in particular: The Public Interest (New York), special issue entitled The great society: lessons for the future, No. 34, Winter 1974; and S. A. Levitan and R. Taggart: The promise of greatness (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1976).
Quoted by Nathan Glazer in Affirmative discrimination (New York, Basic Books, 1978), p. 79.
Census Bureau assessment, quoted by F. Levy: “Poverty by the numbers”, in The American Spectator, May 1978, p. 18.
Cf. J. W. Wilson: The declining significance of race (Chicago University Press, 1978), p. 131.
Philippe Bénéton: “Les juges, les experts et les élèves. A propos de l’intégration scolaire aux Etats-Unis”, in Analyses de la SEDEIS, No. 11, Sep. 1979, pp. 10–17.
Bakke (1978) and Weber (1979) judgements. In respect of these rulings see: “Why Bakke won’t end reverse discrimination” I (W.J. Bennet and T. Eastland) and II (N. Glazer), in Commentary, No. 66 (3), Sep. 1978, pp. 29–41; and “Justice debased: the Weber decision” (C. Cohen), in Commentary, No. 68 (3), Sep. 1979, pp. 43–53.
F. Doolittle, F. Levy and M. Wiseman: “The mirage of welfare reform”, in The Public Interest, No. 47, Spring 1977, p. 63.
On the Nixon project, see D.P. Moynihan: The politics of a guaranteed income: the Nixon administration and the Family Assistance Plan (New York, Random House, 1973); and
M. Anderson: Welfare: the political economy of welfare reform in the United States (Stanford, Hoover Institution, 1979), introduction and pp. 81–85.
L. Lenkowsky: “Welfare reform and the liberals”, in Commentary, March 1979, p. 57.
For a liberal point of view (and a review of Moynihan’s study), see Gus Tyler: “The politics of Pat Moynihan”, in L.A. Coser and I. Howe (eds.): The New Conservatives (New York, Quadrangle, 1974), pp. 181 et seq.
J.A. Coleman: “The concept of equality of educational opportunity”, in D.M. Levine and M. J. Bane (eds.): The “inequality” controversy: schooling and distributive justice (New York, Basic Books, 1975), p. 203.
M. Feldstein: “Social insurance”, in C. D. Campbell (ed.): Income Redistribution (Washington, American Enterprise Institute, 1976), p. 76; see also comments by R. J. Lampman and R. Nisbest, ibid., pp. 106 and 223.
Thomas Sowell: Knowledge and decisions (New York, Basic Books, 1980), p. 387 (note 18).
J. S. Coleman et al.: Equality of educational opportunity (Washington, US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1966). On the subject of this report, see, in particular,
D. Bell: “On meritocracy and equality”, in The Public Interest, No. 29, Fall 1972, pp. 43 et seq., and
M. Cherkaoui: “Sur l’égalité des chances: à propos du rapport Coleman”, in Revue française de sociologie, No. XIX, 1978, pp. 237–260.
m D.P. Moynihan: The negro family: the case for national action (Washington DC, US Department of Labor, 1965), pp. 2–3.
C. Jencks et al.: Inequality: a reassessment of the effect of family and schooling in America (New York, Basic Books, 1972).
“Inequality in retrospect”, in Harvard Educational Review, No. 43 (1), Feb. 1973, p. 150.
See, however, the comments of L. Thurow: “Proving the absence of positive associations”, in Harvard Educational Review, No. 43 (1), Feb. 1973, pp. 107–108.
A. Jensen: “How can we boost IQ and scholastic achievement?”, in Harvard Educational Review, No. 39 (1), Winter 1969, pp. 1–123.
Although the recent studies of Thomas Sowell provide some sound arguments for those who dispute the genetic interpretation. Sowell demonstrates how in the past various ethnic groups of European origin with a similar social background obtained results in intelligence tests that were identical to or poorer than those of blacks today, “Race and IQ reconsidered”, in T. Sowell (ed.): American ethnic groups (The Urban Institute, 1978), pp. 203–238.
John Rawls: A theory of justice (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1971).
Based on the summary given by R. Boudon at the beginning of his remarkable review of A theory of justice (“Justice sociale et intérêt general: A propos de la théorie de la justice de Rawls”, in Revue française de science politique, No. XXV (2), Apr. 1975, pp. 193–194).
M.F. Plattner: “The Welfare State vs. the redistribution state”, in The Public Interest, No. 55, Spring 1979, p. 35.
Herbert J. Gans: More equality (New York, Vintage Books, 1974);
Arthur M. Okur: Equality and efjiciency, the big trade-off (Washington, The Brookings Institutions, 1975);
Lewis A. Coser and I. Howe (eds.): The new conservatives (New York, Quadrangle, 1974);
L.A. Thurow: The zero-sum society (New York, Basic Books, 1980).
Lee Rainwater: “Poverty in the United States”, in Social problems and social policy: inequality and justice (Chicago, Aldine Publishing Company, 1974), p. 74.
L. Shull and S. Santiestevan: “What do we want right now?”, in I. Howe and M. Harrington (eds.): The Seventies (New York, Harper Books, 1972), p. 473.
Cf. T. Sowell: “Myths about minorities”, in Commentary, No. 2, August 1979, p. 36.
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© 1985 International Institute for Labour Studies
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Bénéton, P. (1985). Trends in the Social Policy Aims of the United States (1960–1980). In: Girod, R., de Laubier, P., Gladstone, A. (eds) Social Policy in Western Europe and the USA, 1950–80. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07576-8_5
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