Industrialization, the Family Economy, and the Economic Status of the American Elderly

1991 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Gratton ◽  
Frances M. Rotondo
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Family Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Social Security Act ◽  
The Cost

In his 1911 film What Shall We Do with Our Old? D.W. Griffith dramatized the belief that urban, industrial America had no place for the elderly. Fired for being too slow at his work, an impoverished old man cannot buy food or medicine for his wife, who languishes in their drab, one-room apartment. Justice Benjamin Cardozo told a similar tale in upholding the constitutionality of the Social Security Act (Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 [1937]): “The number of [aged] unable to take care of themselves is growing at a threatening pace. More and more our population is becoming urban and industrial instead of rural and agricultural.” Cardozo relied on studies by the U.S. Social Security Board (1937: 3), which found that “the major part of the industrial population . . . earns scarcely enough to provide for its existence. Savings are small and generally cover little more than the cost of burial insurance.” As a result, “industrial workers in [urban] areas . . . reach old age with few resources” (ibid.: 33).

Women and Social Security: Social Policy Adjusts to Social Change

1981 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilda Kahne
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Elderly Women ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Double Decker ◽  
The Social ◽  
Poverty Status ◽  
Societal Consensus

Women age sixty-five and over now constitute about three fifths of the elderly population. They live longer than men and over time that longevity gap is increasing. Yet their income in later years is woefully inadequate. Poverty status is greater for elderly women than for elderly men; over half of aged women in poverty are widows. This paper describes the social security program, the cornerstone of our retirement income, and the lack of congruence of its provisions with contemporary social roles of women. It analyzes alternative proposals of two-tier, double decker and homemaker benefits, and earnings sharing, and their possible impact on women's economic status. It recommends improvements for this transition period while more basic structural reform is under discussion. Reform based on societal consensus could increase equity of treatment and adequacy of benefits for women. It is an essential prelude to consideration of long range financing needs of social security.

“The Servant Campaigns”: African American Women and the Politics of Economic Justice in Washington, D.C., in the 1930s

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary-Elizabeth Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Social Security ◽  
African American Women ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Security Act ◽  
Black Voters

When Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, was elected president in 1932, most African Americans did not support him since they were still loyal to the Republican Party. Moreover, New Deal policies, especially the Social Security Act in 1935, excluded farmers and domestics, and thus, most African Americans. One of the people who encouraged black voters to switch to the Democratic Party was Elizabeth McDuffie, a black servant in the Roosevelt White House. In the 1936 election, McDuffie went on the campaign trail and toured Chicago, Cleveland, Springfield, and St. Louis. As a domestic servant, McDuffie was a familiar face to southern migrants, and she convinced many black voters to switch to the Democratic Party. After her campaign tour concluded, McDuffie became acquainted with the large black population in Washington, D.C. McDuffie worked alongside middle-class activists to increase economic opportunities for women workers by sponsoring training programs for servants. But, as this article demonstrates, most black servants did not want training programs; they desired higher wages, better jobs, and inclusion in the Social Security Act. Working-class women in Washington wrote letters to the newspaper and in 1938, 10,000 rioted for jobs as federal charwomen, jobs that paid higher wages and offered savings for retirement. After McDuffie witnessed these events, she became a vocal critic of the limitations of New Deal programs while continuing to praise Roosevelt and the Democratic Party. This article argues that Elizabeth McDuffie’s career in Washington illuminates the contradictions of New Deal politics for black women workers.

The Moderation Role of Being Valued by Teachers Over the Association Between School Children Motivation and Need for Competition

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110441
Author(s):  
Cristina Maria Bostan ◽  
Tudor Stanciu ◽  
Răzvan-Lucian Andronic
Keyword(s):  
School Children ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Economic Status ◽  
Motivation For Learning ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family

Concordant with classical theoretical guidelines (i.e., social facilitation, social constructivism theory, and the Pygmalion effect) we tested the need for competition and perception of being valued by teachers to be better motivated for learning in school. We extend knowledge by testing these associations mediated by the social economic status given by the well-being of the family (i.e., controlling for gender and socio-economic status). A total of 214 Romanian students (45.3% boys) with ages between 13 and 17 years were administered the PEER questionnaire (i.e., perception of being valued by teachers, school-children motivation, and the need for competition). Results show a positive relation between the need for competition and motivation for learning. We also found positive relations between the perception of being valued by the teacher and motivation for learning and the need for competition. We conclude that motivation is higher when the need for competition is higher and the perception of being valued by teachers is higher.

Depression and the Welfare State

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Mayhew
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Social Provision ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Security Act ◽  
Franklin Delano Roosevelt ◽  
High Place

This chapter navigates the 1930s and groups two impulses into it: responding to the Great Depression and building a welfare state equipped with instruments of social provision. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democrats blended these two impulses when they executed their New Deal in the 1930s. However, on current inspection, the blend is confusing and sometimes contradictory, and there is a difference in time span. Responding to the Great Depression was clearly a 1930s drive; whereas the Social Security Act of 1935 still enjoys its high place at the top of the American welfare state. The chapter shows how the timeline on building U.S. social provision runs a lot longer before and afterward.

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