The Great Society and Its Legacy: Twenty Years of U.S. Social Policy
The Great Society and Its Legacy: Twenty Years of U.S. Social Policy
edited by Marshall Kaplan and Peggy Cuciti
Duke University Press, 1986 eISBN: 978-0-8223-9976-6 | Cloth: 978-0-8223-0589-7 | Paper: 978-0-8223-0738-9 Library of Congress Classification HN65.G74 1986 Dewey Decimal Classification 361.610973
ABOUT THIS BOOK | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
A uniquely balanced look at the Great Society and its aftermath, this work describes and evaluates America's key social policy initiatives from Presidents Johnson to Reagan.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Book One. Background
1. Themes and Premises
The Great Society in 1984: Relic or Reality? / Robert Wood 17
Is New Federalism the Wave of the Future? / William Schamabra 24
2. The Macroeconomic Context
The Evolution of Economic Policy / Barry Bosworth 32
Tax Reform from 1964 to 1984—A Brief Retrospective / Joseph Pechman 42
Book Two. Problems, Policies, Programs, and Evaluation
1. The Discovery of Poverty
Poverty in the United States / Paul Ylvisaker 51
War on Poverty: Assumptions, History, and Results / Bernard Gifford 60
2. The Programmatic Legacy
Did the Great Society and Subsequent Initiatives Work? / Sar Levitan and Clifford Johnson 73
Creating Jobs for Americans: From MDTA to Industrial Policy / Peter Edelman 91
Six Welfare Questions Still Searching for Answers / Henry Aaron 105
Random Reflections on the Great Society's Politics and Health Care Programs After Twenty Years / Wilbur Cohen 113
3. Restructuring the Urban Environment
Revitalizing the Cities: From Great Expectations to a New Realism / Marshall Kaplan 121
Downtown Shopping Malls and the New Public-Private Strategy / Bernard Frieden and Lynne Sagalyn 130
4. Use and Misuse of Information
Observations on the Role of the Media in Covering the War on Poverty / Ian Menzies 148
The Role of the Media in Shaping Public Policy: The Myth of Power and the Power of Myth / Charles Green 152
Social Science and the Great Society / Richard Nathan 163
5. The Impact on the Structure of Governance
Fiscal Federalism in the 1980s: Dismantling or Rationalizing the Great Society / Robert Reischauer 179
The Nature and Systemic Impact of "Creative Federalism" / David Walker 197
The Great Society and the Growth of "Juridicial Federalism"—Protecting Civil Rights and Welfare / David Rosenbloom 208
Conclusion—Great Society, Past, Present, and Possible Future 216
