Deserving and Entitled

Social Constructions and Public Policy

Anne L. Schneider, Helen M. Ingram, Anne L. Schneider, Helen M. Ingram

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780791463420, 9780791463413
• eBook ISBN: 9780791483831
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Public Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Explores the contradictions between the American ideal of equality and the realities of public policy.

Public policy in the United States is marked by a contradiction between the American ideal of equality and the reality of an underclass of marginalized and disadvantaged people who are widely viewed as undeserving and incapable. Deserving and Entitled provides a close inspection of many different policy arenas, showing how the use of power and the manipulation of images have made it appear both natural and appropriate that some target populations benefit from policy, while others do not. These social constructions of deservedness and entitlement, unless challenged, become amplified over time and institutionalized into permanent lines of social, economic, and political cleavage. The contributors here express concern that too often public policy sends messages harmful to democracy and contributes significantly to the pattern of uneven political participation in the United States.

Table of contents

• Deserving and Entitled: Social Constructions and Public Policy
• Contents
• Foreword
• INTRODUCTION: Public Policy and the Social Construction of Deservedness
• PART I: Historical Roots of Constructions of Deservedness and Entitlement
• PART II: Congressional Discourse: Forging Lines of Division between Deserving and Undeserving
• PART III: Nonprofits, Neighborhood Organizations, and the Social Construction of Deservedness
• PART IV: Constructions by Moral Entrepreneurs and Policy Analysts
• PART V: Social Constructions, Identity, Citizenship, and Participation
• References
• Contributors
• Index