> ----------
> From: Stephan Leibfried[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Reply To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: 10 January 2000 17:34
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: (Fwd) Rejected [non-member submission] New book: Time and
> Pove
>
> Dear list-owner,
>
> I would think the information forwarded here is of
> interest to many members on your list. Would you please
> circulate the message on your list accordingly.
>
> Thank you and a happy New Year
>
> Stephan Leibfried
>
> **** with due apologies for cross-posting ****
>
> I just want to alert people interested in poverty and social policy
> studies in Western Europe and Northamerica--be it in economics,
> sociology, psychology, social policy, political science or
> geography--to the fact that the volume
>
> Lutz Leisering & Stephan Leibfried, Time and Poverty in Western
> Welfare States. United Germany in Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge
> University Press 1999, 395 pp. (9 tables, 18 figures)
>
> came out some 8 weeks ago. In hardback it costs 45 English
> pounds (can't say anything about a paperback ed.).
> The ISBN no. is 0-521-59013-2.
>
>
> FOUR VOICES FROM THE ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
> PROFESSIONS in the UK and the USA:
>
> * Robert Pinker, Professor Emeritus of Social Administration, LSE: "
> 'Time and Poverty in Western Welfare States' will become a classic
> text in the literature of social policy research. It is backed with
> original theoretical insights and innovative proposals for policy
> reform. The authors open up a new era of scholarly enquiry into the
> complex relationships between poverty, social exclusion and class
> structures as they change over time."
>
> * Ralf Dahrendorf, Foreword: "The findings are striking. They suggest
> rethinking conventional views of poverty as well as methods to remedy
> a condition which is the original target of the welfare state. Readers
> of this splendid volume will find that it takes them a long way not
> just to better understanding but to better prospects for the future."
>
> * Rebecca M. Blank, now Dean of the School of Public Policy at the
> University of Michigan: "'Time and Poverty in Western States' presents
> a multitude of interesting facts about poverty and social assistance
> in Germany, interpreting them within a larger theoretical framework
> that uses economic as well as sociological/psychological theories on
> the life course. By and large this integrated analysis is not done by
> US economists, and the book provides a good example of its value. The
> authors' distinctions between different subgroups among the poor
> should be useful to those thinking about US welfare reform, as states
> attempt to distinguish between social assistance recipients."
>
> * David Ellwood, Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy,
> John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University: "'Time and
> Poverty in Western Welfare States' moves the discussion of poverty
> from who to why. With their unique longitudinal analysis, the authors
> tackle the questions which are likely to be central as nations across
> the world examine and reform their social policies: How long are
> people poor, what leads them into poverty, and what can lead them out?
> The authors' careful, creative analysis should be read by thoughtful
> people who care about poverty and policy in Germany, Europe, and the
> world."
>
>
> A SHORT DESCRIPTION:
>
> The book is the first monograph in Europe on poverty and social
> assistance based on longitudinal data. It explores ways into, through
> and out of social assistance, based on quantitative and qualitative
> data. Time, differentiated into its "objective", "subjective" and
> "institutional" dimensions, as well as the related issue of
> "dependency", is shown to be a key aspect of poverty and social
> policy. Poverty policies, seen as part of "life course regimes"
> embedded in different welfare state models, are contrasted. The
> implications for policy-making and for sociological analysis of
> inequality in "risk societies" are explored.
>
> The study reveals a high degree of mobility among the poor and
> growing socio-economic insecurity among the middle classes.
> "Dynamic" approaches to the study of poverty, social assistance and
> other social problems originated in the fields of economics and
> sociology in the USA in the 1970s. They are now taken up in the wider
> institutional, policy and theory perspectives of Europe of the 1990s,
> in the context of widespread social inequality in advanced welfare
> states. New panel data as well as adminsitrative event hisroty data
> have opened up new horizons for research. Deep-seated views about the
> nature of poverty, held on the right and on the left, are challenged
> in the process. The study explores the German case after Worl War II.
> It focuses primarily on the 1980s and 1990s. It emphasizes the
> East-West contrast after unification. The volume challenges common
> sense and deepens our understanding of poverty in developed welfare
> states.
>
>
> SPECIAL FEATURES:
>
> * This is the first monograph in Europe that presents the "dynamic"
> study of poverty and social assistance.
>
> * This study of the lower end of the social inequality does not rely
> on routine "snapshots" of the poor, as most poverty studies do by
> looking at cross-sections of the population, but on "movies" of the
> life trajectories of two claimant chorts in 1980s and 1990s.
>
> * The volume analyses the fluidity and rigidity of socio-economic
> positions, throwing new light on processes of social exclusion and
> "dependency", a set of hotly debated current issues across the
> OECD-world.
>
> * The study provides evidence from Germany that sheds doubt on the
> moral and factual assumptions of 'welfare reforms' as advocated by
> Frank Field when in Blair's Cabinet and as implemented under President
> Clinton in 1996 in the USA. It analyzes the German welfare reform and
> its history.
>
> * This work challenges the myths about poverty as they are
> espoused differently from the right and from the left.
>
> * The book presents an original analysis of one major European
> welfare state tradition, namely the Bismarckian German system. In the
> 1990s, this tradition has been a prominent if not the dominant strand
> of pan-European policy integration. This study of the welfare state
> takes the point of view of poverty; it thus provides a "bottom up"
> perspective of Bismarck's "social security state".
>
> * In the study, recent advanced techniques of logitudinal analysis are
> used to shed new light old questions. Observing life trajectories
> throws a radically different light on the social function of poverty
> and of remedial policies, such as "basic income", in developed welfare
> states.
>
> * The volume studies in detail the significance of time in the lives
> of the poor as well as in the workings of institutions and policies of
> the welfare state.
>
>
> TEACHING: The volume should also be useful in teaching European
> Studies, Comparative or European Social Policy or courses
> on Poverty Studies, as it provides a comprehensive look at the
> German situation placed in a comparative context.
>
> ----
>
> People working int this area may also be interested in two more
> recent papers complementing this volume:
>
> * Ralf Bohrhardt and Stephan Leibfried, 1999: Expect the Unexpected.
> Social Assistance Dynamics of Single or Unemployed Parents in Germany
> and the U.S., Bremen: sfb 186, Bremen University (Working Paper no.
> 56, August 1999). To be obtained via: Werner Dressel, chief
> administrator sfb 186, FVG, Bremen University, POB 330 440, D 28334
> Bremen, Germany (e-mail:[log in to unmask])
>
> * Petra Buhr, 2000: Poverty in Wonderland? Ways into and out of Social
> Assistance in Germany and Sweden, Bremen: sfb 186, Bremen University
> (English Working Paper to be published; available in German already as
> Working Paper 51 of sfb 186 at the same address or also in: Leviathan
> 1999, vol. 27. no. 2, pp. 218-237).
>
> ----
>
> And, all the best in 2000+ ...
>
> Stephan Leibfried
>
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