This classic text describes and analyzes the ideas that have shaped the history of social welfare from the Colonial Period to the present day.

The text provides a history of events and ideas that have shaped American social welfare policy, using original documents from each respective period. Coverage of economic developments also helps students to understand the context of social welfare movements and policies.

This edition includes an expanded discussion of “welfare reform” since the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. The last chapter (Ch. 9) includes a detailed discussion of the fiscal, intellectual, and ideological forces that led to that Act.

The impact of the voluntarism and privatization movements on social welfare is covered in the new edition. The final chapter also includes expanded coverage of the immigration debate and trends in the justice system.