Routledge Welfare State 3.0: Social Policy After the Pandemic

This book identifies specific changes to bring U.S. social policy in accord with the Information Age of the 21st century, in contrast to the policy infrastructure of industrial America. Welfare State 3.0: Social Policy after the Pandemic acknowledges the existing social infrastructure, considers viable options, and provides supporting data to suggest social policy reform by four strategies: consolidating programs, harmonizing applications, expanding equity, and conducting experiments. The book favors discreet, poignant proposals of social programs. In 12 chapters, the text provides an analysis that honors past accomplishments, recognizes the influence of established stakeholders, and concedes program inadequacies, while plotting specific opportunities for policy improvement. In contrast to liberalism’s tendency toward idealism, the book adopts a realpolitik appreciation for social policy. Written by one of the most respected academics of U.S. social policy, this book will be required reading for all undergraduate and postgraduate students of social policy, social work, sociology, and U.S. politics more broadly. Review "Dave Stoesz combines direct and sometimes painful personal experience with a lifetime of deep scholarship to produce this imporant work on the future of the Welfare State in a post-industrial and increasingly unequal America." Phillip Longman, Policy Director, Open Markets Institute and Senior Editor, Washington Monthly. "This is an essential one-volume look at America’s distinctive welfare state and the challenges it faces in a new era. Accessible enough for students, expert enough for scholars, and engaging enough for general readers, it is at once a cogent history of U.S. social policy and a compelling analysis of contemporary events. Drawing on his deep personal and academic insights, David Stoesz makes the case for a third wave of welfare state reforms that could bring us much closer to economic justice for all." Jacob S. Hacker, Yale University, USA, author of The Great Risk Shift and The Divided Welfare State. About the Author David Stoesz is founder and CEO, Up$tart, and a former Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the University of Birmingham and Carnegie Mellon University-Australia/Flinders University.