In this chapter, I sketch the historical development of the US welfare state. This will provide the background for the current welfare reform, and, in particular, American-style workfare. The major point of US welfare is to get families off of the welfare rolls and into the paid labor market. There is little or no concern about poverty or their well-being. It is simply assumed that with a job, they will be better off. I then present various reform proposals that address both the low-wage labor market and welfare support.

The chapter ends with two sections that serve as a bridge to the remaining chapters. One deals with the US conception of social citizenship, or, I should say, the social contract. This contrasts with the Western European conception of social citizenship developed in the post-World War II period which is now undergoing change in the direction of the US model. The concluding section discusses lessons from the US experience that might be applicable to Western Europe as they continue along their present path.

THE “UNDESERVING POOR”

Perhaps nowhere – at least among the advanced democratic societies – is the contradiction between the ideals of social citizenship and the reality greater than in the United States. The roots of this contradiction go back at least to the Middle Ages. The starting point is usually the Statute of Laborers (1349).