>
> State University of New York at Stony Brook
> Stony Brook, NY 11794-4356
>
> Michael H Schwartz
> Professor
> Sociology
> 516 632-7703
> 27-Oct-1997 05:54am EST
>
>
> Dear All
>
> Clarence Lo and I have edited a timely book called Social Policy and the
> Conservative Agenda published by Blackwells, which takes a very close look at
> policy making during the Clinton Administration. We think it gives the best
> analysis thus far offered of why Clinton has enacted the conservative agenda
> with such regularity and failed to follow through on the many positive
> expectations of liberals and others.
>
> The essays are each directed at a particular policy area and are written by
> scholars who have specialized expertise in those areas, for example, Harvey
> Molotch on urban policy, Francis Fox Piven on AFDC, and Jill Quadagno on social
> security. Some of the essays are filled with juicy details about specific
> policy developments (e.g., civilianization of research, social security
> reform), others offer more general analyses about the how policy has been
> formulated in that area in the last 15 years of so (e.g., AFDC, family policy);
> some have both.
>
> Taken as a whole, we think the book breaks important new ground in
> understanding how the conservative policy trajectory established during the
> 1980s has maintained its momentum despite public reaction against it. Most
> significantly, it offers a strong analytic alternative to the rejuvenated
> consensus that governmental policy is somehow a reflection of public opinion.
> The overarching viewpoint focuses on how government is influence by the
> dynamics of the capitalist class, both through direct contact and through
> embedded class interest.
>
> While all the essays are intellectually challenging, most of them are
> accessible to students and other non-scholars. We think it could be usefully
> assigned in all manner of undergraduate courses-particularly those embracing
> politics and/or United State social structure.
>
> The book will be out in January in the U.S., so it could be assigned for Spring
> semesters, particularly those that begin in late January. Desk copies will be
> available in the next month or so. If you want to know more, let me know by
> return email. If you want a desk copy, send me mailing address, course you are
> considering it for and tentative enrollment.
>
> Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested.
>
> I am attaching a table of contents for your perusal.
>
> Best
>
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> Social Policy and the Conservative Agenda
>
> edited by
>
> Clarence Y.H. Lo and Michael Schwartz
>
>
> Contents
>
> Introduction
> What Went Right? Why the Clinton Administration Did Not Alter The
> Conservative Trajectory in Federal Policy
> Michael Schwartz
>
>
> Part One: Welfare, Social Security, and the State of Austerity
>
> 1. Welfare and the Transformation of American Politics
> Frances Fox Piven
> 2. The Democratic Party and the Politics of Welfare Reform
> Ron Walters
> 3. Urban America: Crushed in the Growth Machine
> Harvey Molotch
> 4. Rhetoric, Recision, and Reaction: The Development of Homelessness Policy
> Cynthia Bogard, and J. Jeff McConnell
> 5. Social Security Policy and the Entitlement Debate: The New American
> Exceptionalism
> Jill Quadagno
>
>
> Part Two: Welfare-warfare Spending, Technology, and the Global Economy
>
> 6. Wealth and Poverty in the National Economy: The Domestic Foundations of
> Clinton's Global Policy
> Morris Morley and James Petras
> 7. America's Military Industrial Make-Over
> Ann Markusen
> 8. Big Missions and Big Business: Military and Corporate Dominance of
> Federal Science Policy
> Gregory Hooks and Gregory McLauchlan
> 9. Active-competitive Industrial Policy: From Elite Project to Logics of
> Action
> J. Kenneth Benson and Nick Paretsky
> 10. Where Are All the Democrats? The Limits of Economic Policy Reform
> Patrick Akard
> 11. Failure of Health-Care Reform: The Role of Big Business in Policy Formation
> Beth Mintz
>
>
> Part Three: Acting Out Conservative Ideology
>
> 12. The Malignant Masses on CNN: Media Use of Public Opinion Polls to
> Fabricate the "Conservative Majority" against Health-Care Reform
> Clarence Y.H. Lo
> 13. Popular Consensus or Political Extortion? Making Soldiers the Means and
> Ends of U.S. Military Deployments
> Jerry Lee Lembcke
> 14. Theorizing and Politicizing Choice in the `96 election
> Zillah Eisenstein
> 15. The Right Family Values
> Judith Stacey
> 16. Contradictions in the Conservative Agenda: Welfare Reform and
> Reproductive Politics on a Collision Course
> Carole Joffe
>
>
> CONCLUSION
>
> Business Action, Conservative Acting, and Institutional Enactment: Economic
> Constraints on Social Policy
> Clarence Y.H. Lo
>
>
>
>
