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THE INTELLECTUAL ORIGINS OF ‘WELFARE DEPENDENCY’
Author(s) -
O'Connor Brendon
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.2001.tb01100.x
Subject(s) - welfare dependency , welfare , welfare reform , poverty , project commissioning , unemployment , politics , administration (probate law) , dependency (uml) , publishing , political science , sociology , economics , political economy , public administration , economic growth , law , systems engineering , engineering
‘Welfare dependency’ has become a key term in policy debate in the United States and, more recently, Australia. In this article I explore the intellectual origins of the term, looking specifically at the writings of George Gilder and Charles Murray, two commentators whose (often polemically presented) ideas were influential within the Reagan Administration and have been at the forefront of a conservative renewal in welfare debate generally. Although others have subsequently refined some of their arguments and proposals, the authors' central claim that welfare causes dependency and thus unemployment and poverty – and that welfare reform therefore needs to focus on changing the behaviour of welfare recipients rather than providing employment opportunities – has had a lasting political impact, in Australia as much as in the US.