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28 J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare 71 (2001)
The Historical Uniqueness of the Clinton Welfare Reforms: A New Level of Social Misery

handle is hein.journals/jrlsasw28 and id is 451 raw text is: The Historical Uniqueness of the Clinton Welfare Reforms: A New Level of Social Misery? LARRY PATRIQUIN Nipissing University This essay argues that the 1996 reforms to the American welfare state have no historical precedent. They are not a return to the poorhouse era and are radically distinct from Great Britain's new poor law of 1834, to which they are often compared. America is the first advanced capitalist country to jettison a significant element of its welfare state and, as such, is moving into waters that are uncharted and dangerous. The United States is implementing major reforms in an effort to realize President Bill Clinton's 1992 election pledge to end welfare as we know it. The response of numerous observers has been to provide trenchant critiques of these policy changes. What is worrying about many of these commentaries, though, is that they often maintain that Clinton's alterations to the welfare system will bring America back to the poorhouse era. This is a flawed analysis which fails to recognize the basic empirical fact that the heart of this legislation is historically unprecedented and that, as a consequence, the cutbacks to welfare will bring about a new level of social misery, in the process lowering the quality of life for millions of people. My sole objective here is to make this point. After a brief survey of the recent changes to social assistance, this article will go on to challenge mainstream theories of the origins of capitalism and welfare. This is a necessary step in making a coherent case for the uniqueness of the reforms currently unfolding in the U. S. Following this, an account will be provided of Great Britain's new poor law of 1834, with the objective of highlighting how this law is radically distinct from Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, September, 2001, Volume XXVIII, Number 3

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