Th e Chaining of Social Problems: Solutions and Unintended Consequences in the Age of Betrayal In this chapter I build on arguments about the unintended consequences of political action raised by infl uential scholars argue that the solution of one problem produces other problems as a result of the solution. In this sense social problems are chained together with solutions causing new problems. I use as an example the prevention of subversion in American politics. I demonstrate how from 1919 through 2001, each political solution has provoked a new set of problems in its wake

2012 ◽  
pp. 21-41
Keyword(s):  
American Politics ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Unintended Consequences

Public Ignorance and Democratic Technocracy

2019 ◽  
pp. 263-316
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Social Problems ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
High Odds ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Public Ignorance

It is usually thought that the “typical voter’s” well-documented ignorance of public affairs is explained by the low incentive to inform oneself about them, given the high odds against one’s vote making a difference. This theory cannot withstand either logical or empirical scrutiny. A better theory is that citizen-technocrats are unaware that they need much information if they are to make intelligent technocratic decisions, due to a tacit acceptance of a simple-society ontology—according to which social problems are straightforwardly diagnosed and solved by people with good intentions. A politics organized around good intentions, however, is unlikely to recognize unintended consequences, let alone prioritize knowledge of them. The upshot of this chapter, then, in conjunction with Chapter 5, is that we face a Hobson’s choice between rule by well-informed but doctrinaire epistocrats and rule by open-minded but ignorant citizen-technocrats.

Horizontal Hierarchies

2019 ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Frances R. Aparicio
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
National Community ◽  
Power Differentials ◽  
Gradual Transformation

In this chapter I propose the theoretical frameworks for the book. I trace the semantic shifts of the critical concept of Latinidad/es, highlighting its gradual transformation from a noun to a verb, from description to action. This genealogy suggests that “Latinidad/es” has been rewritten as a central signifier for political action and resistance. In addition, the chapter proposes the concept of “horizontal hierarchies” as a critical tool that allows us to identify and examine the power differentials among the various Latino nationalities and ethnicities in the United States. Referring to various interventions by Latino/a scholars and writers, the term “horizontal hierarchies” elucidates not only the shifting visibility of each national community politically and culturally, but also the contradictions and the relational and situational texture that inform these hierarchies.

Political Periods and Political Participation

1979 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 737-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Allen Beck ◽  
M. Kent Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
The Political ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Left Wing

Analysis of complementary data sets, a 1965–1973 panel study of young adults and their parents and the 1956–1976 Michigan presidential election series, shows that the late 1960s and early 1970s were a deviant period where participation in American politics was concerned. During this time, the young were more active politically than their elders, substantially increasing their participation from previous years, and Americans on the ideological left participated more than those at other positions along the ideological continuum. While this surge of left-wing activism was not restricted to the young, it probably accounts for the relative participation advantage enjoyed by the young. These findings challenge the “conventional wisdom” about patterns of participation in America. They are best explained by recognizing that the opportunities for political action among the American citizenry are not fixed, but instead vary with changes in the political stimuli across different periods.

American Politics: “Broken” Since 1885

The Forum ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. Connelly
Keyword(s):  
American Politics ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Special Interests ◽  
James Madison ◽  
Woodrow Wilson ◽  
Progressive Reforms

Abstract:Woodrow Wilson, along with progressive intellectuals and reformers, bears significant responsibility for the decline of trust in government today. Wilson may have eclipsed James Madison in theory and practice, thereby contributing to the decline of trust in government. The criticism today of our politics as “dysfunctional” is, in large part, an echo of Wilson’s criticism of Madison’s Constitution. Today’s concerns about accountability, permanent politics, gridlock, special interests and petty partisanship reflect Wilson’s critique. In turn, Wilson has powerfully influenced the practice of our politics by providing the template for generations of political reformers. Today’s “dysfunction” is exacerbated by constitutionally inappropriate progressive reforms which have produced unintended consequences because reformers failed to appreciate Madison’s complex constitutional context. A century of progressive reforms have augmented dysfunction and distrust.

An Industry of Social Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-17
Author(s):  
Cynthia Rayner ◽  
François Bonnici
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Unintended Consequences

Although we may not realize it, the prevailing approach to social change is driven by an industrial mindset that has been two centuries in the making. With this mindset, public, private, and nonprofit sectors exchange large sums of money, expertise, and resources in pursuit of ambitious goals to stave off poverty, disease, and hunger at a global scale. Yet, despite this massive effort, social problems still seem insurmountable. In Chapter 1, the authors consider how this “industrial” approach to social change emerged historically, creating an architecture that is currently used to imagine, fund, and implement social change. This architecture leads to many of the unintended consequences faced today.

Disturbing Silence: Mill and the Radicals at the Monthly Repository

Shame ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdan Popa
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Social Conformity

In this chapter I criticize Martha Nussbaum’s theory of shame by drawing on Wendy Brown’s argument that silence offers a “shelter” for sexual radicals against the judgment of public opinion. A performative silence is important not only to protect eccentrics from the tyranny of social conformity but also to imagine possibilities for living in transformative relationships. I examine the early stage of Mill’s relationship with Harriet Taylor, discuss Mill’s relationship with a group of radical Unitarians, and analyse his carefully planned interventions. I show that Mill’s silences, rather than lacking feminist value, challenge the liberal feminist conception about political action.

Labor Unions, Employee Benefits, and the Privatization of the American Welfare State

1990 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Stevens
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Pension ◽  
Employee Benefits ◽  
Favorite Theme ◽  
Industrial Societies

The “exceptional” nature of American politics has been a favorite theme of scholars since Tocqueville. One of the more famous “exceptions” has been the distinctive development of its welfare state. The United States has perennially been portrayed as the laggard among advanced industrial societies. Indeed, it adopted public pension and insurance programs at a later date than most European societies, and its programs cover smaller portions of the population and address fewer social problems.

Informal Care and Economic Stressors11In this chapter, I use the term informal care because it is a standard term used in the academic literature. The term is intended to distinguish care from family members and friends, who are typically untrained and unpaid, from formal care, in which care is provided by paid, and usually trained, semiprofessionals or professionals who have no preexisting personal relationship with the care recipient. An alternative term is family caregiver, but I prefer the term informal caregiver because it does not exclude care provided by nonfamily members. In addition, the word informal reflects the reality that caregiving in the United States typically occurs in an informal market, where there are no explicit prices for the services provided, with rarely explicit direct payments, and it is therefore very difficult to quantify directly the supply, cost, or value of informal care. The very absence of a market for caregiving has spurred a great deal of economics (and other) research in understanding the value and costs of informal care in the United States and internationally, due to labor market impacts, health impacts, and other unintended consequences of caregiving.

2015 ◽  
pp. 105-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Harold Van Houtven
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Informal Care ◽  
Family Caregiver ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Care Recipient ◽  
Market Impacts ◽  
Standard Term ◽  
Direct Payments
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document