The U.S. Welfare State: A Battleground for Human Rights

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511842269.004

3 - The U.S. Welfare State: A Battleground for Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Mimi Abramovitz

Edited by

Shareen Hertel and

Kathryn Libal

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Mimi Abramovitz: Affiliation:
City University of New York
Shareen Hertel: Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
Kathryn Libal: Affiliation:
University of Connecticut

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Summary

The fulfillment of human rights is the bedrock of social justice. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights sparked an ongoing debate over the obligation of governments to ensure the welfare of individuals by protecting their social and economic as well as civil and political rights. Although political rights won early support, the achievement of social and economic rights has lagged. Many in the United States regard the fulfillment of social and economic rights (i.e., the right to work, health, income, housing, education, and employment) as conflicting with the workings of the market economy. Others think of social and economic rights as an impossible dream. Yet since the 1930s, if not before, the nation's top leaders have persistently promoted a human rights agenda, including social and economic rights. Despite such support in high places, the historical struggle to recognize the rights documented in this chapter was shaped by those who put profits before people and/or compromised with racism.

THE ORIGINS OF THE WELFARE STATE: AN ARENA OF STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

The early struggle for human rights arose during the first major economic crisis of the twentieth century. The total collapse of the economy in 1929 signaled that the laissez-faire relationship between the market and the state could no longer assure profitable economic growth or social stability. Elites blamed their economic woes on the failure of the market and for the first time called on the federal government for help.

Type: Chapter
Information: Human Rights in the United States
Beyond Exceptionalism
, pp. 46 - 67

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511842269.004 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

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