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From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America
Over twenty-five years and through five editions, Walter I. Trattner's From Poor Law to Welfare State has served as the standard text on the history of welfare policy in the United States. The only comprehensive account of American social welfare history from the colonial era to the present, the new sixth edition has been updated to include the latest developments in our society as well as trends in social welfare.
Trattner provides in-depth examination of developments in child welfare, public health, and the evolution of social work as a profession, showing how all these changes affected the treatment of the poor and needy in America. He explores the impact of public policies on social workers and other helping professions—all against the backdrop of social and intellectual trends in American history. From Poor Law to Welfare State directly addresses racism and sexism and pays special attention to the worsening problems of child abuse, neglect, and homelessness. Topics new to this sixth edition include:
-A review of President Clinton's health-care reform and its failure, and his efforts to “end welfare as we know it”
-Recent developments in child welfare including an expanded section on the voluntary use of children's institutions by parents in the nineteenth century, and the continued discrimination against black youth in the juvenile justice system
-An in-depth discussion of Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein's controversial book, The Bell Curve, which provided social conservatives new weapons in their war on the black poor and social welfare in general
-The latest information on AIDS and the reappearance of tuberculosis—and their impact on public health policy
-A new Preface and Conclusion, and substantially updated Bibliographies
Written for students in social work and other human service professions, From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America is also an essential resource for historians, political scientists, sociologists, and policymakers.
Trattner provides in-depth examination of developments in child welfare, public health, and the evolution of social work as a profession, showing how all these changes affected the treatment of the poor and needy in America. He explores the impact of public policies on social workers and other helping professions—all against the backdrop of social and intellectual trends in American history. From Poor Law to Welfare State directly addresses racism and sexism and pays special attention to the worsening problems of child abuse, neglect, and homelessness. Topics new to this sixth edition include:
-A review of President Clinton's health-care reform and its failure, and his efforts to “end welfare as we know it”
-Recent developments in child welfare including an expanded section on the voluntary use of children's institutions by parents in the nineteenth century, and the continued discrimination against black youth in the juvenile justice system
-An in-depth discussion of Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein's controversial book, The Bell Curve, which provided social conservatives new weapons in their war on the black poor and social welfare in general
-The latest information on AIDS and the reappearance of tuberculosis—and their impact on public health policy
-A new Preface and Conclusion, and substantially updated Bibliographies
Written for students in social work and other human service professions, From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America is also an essential resource for historians, political scientists, sociologists, and policymakers.
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
67 people are currently reading
437 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
October 11, 2022
Had to read this book for my social policy class and I actually read the thing front to back. I learned a great deal of the history of social welfare and how things have developed over time up until the early 2000s. Really loving this class and was very committed to reading everything as it’s meaningful and important to ways in which I can look to influence policy and assist those in poverty in the work I do.
December 6, 2015
I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who cares about welfare policy and its origins. It's written from a white male historical lens, I would recommend paring with addition welfare history texts that cover other perspectives. Trattner's history leaves out much of women's roles in welfare creation and civil rights issues.
November 8, 2019
Pretty good. Throws a lot of shade, and i'm here for it.
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January 29, 2022Second half of the book way more interesting for me and a lot easier to follow because it was chronological. Learned a lot about the origin of all sorts of policies, which I hadn’t previously thought about much.
(Written in 1998 edition): “For most Americans, the answer to living in uncertain times appears to lie in the cultivation of the self, or a turning inward; that is, the replacement of social concerns with personal ones, the return to their ancestors’ more repressive rather than their more human actions. One can only hope that the new millennium will usher in a change. Despite the nation’s problems…the United States remains one of the most stable, resilient, and wealthiest nations in the world. Perhaps, before long, Americans will somehow face up to and meet those challenges and, in the process, once again live up to their democratic professions - life, liberty, and justice for all. Only the future will tell.” p. 401
(Written in 1998 edition): “For most Americans, the answer to living in uncertain times appears to lie in the cultivation of the self, or a turning inward; that is, the replacement of social concerns with personal ones, the return to their ancestors’ more repressive rather than their more human actions. One can only hope that the new millennium will usher in a change. Despite the nation’s problems…the United States remains one of the most stable, resilient, and wealthiest nations in the world. Perhaps, before long, Americans will somehow face up to and meet those challenges and, in the process, once again live up to their democratic professions - life, liberty, and justice for all. Only the future will tell.” p. 401
December 14, 2020
Excellent overview of what can sometimes seem a dry topic, very thorough outline of developments in the US. I read an older edition which stopped in the late 80s, so would be interesting to read more recent chapters at a later date.
September 1, 2016
Very informative
I thought the book was very informative. Though there seems to be a lack of content about classism and its affect on social welfare.
I thought the book was very informative. Though there seems to be a lack of content about classism and its affect on social welfare.
May 22, 2018
This is the sixth edition of the book. I am glad that the publishers continued to print the prefaces, as it shows the author's mindset at each of the revisions.
This book starts from recorded history and then narrows focus to the United States. The coverage also ends at the end of Bill Clinton's presidency - and I'm not sure things have gotten better for the poor, those in poverty, or those people just one missed paycheck away from being in poverty.
While I knew that the Bible orders society to help those in poverty, I was unaware of the Poor Laws in Elizabethan England, of the settlement houses in the 1800's, and how localities could not keep up with the amounts of people, where a recognition of state or federal action was necessary.
"Quote: ...since the "very existence of the State depends upon the character of its citizens, . . . if certain industrial conditions are forcing the workers below the standard of decency, it becomes . . . [necessary to have] State regulation." (p. 183)"
This book starts from recorded history and then narrows focus to the United States. The coverage also ends at the end of Bill Clinton's presidency - and I'm not sure things have gotten better for the poor, those in poverty, or those people just one missed paycheck away from being in poverty.
While I knew that the Bible orders society to help those in poverty, I was unaware of the Poor Laws in Elizabethan England, of the settlement houses in the 1800's, and how localities could not keep up with the amounts of people, where a recognition of state or federal action was necessary.
"Quote: ...since the "very existence of the State depends upon the character of its citizens, . . . if certain industrial conditions are forcing the workers below the standard of decency, it becomes . . . [necessary to have] State regulation." (p. 183)"
September 27, 2020
This was a fantastic history of social welfare. It’s something everyone really should read. It goes from colonial America through the revolution, Civil War, all kinds of different movements like settlement houses and social welfare, issues like mental health, and healthcare reform. It goes through presidential administrations and what they did and didn’t do for social welfare including the New Deal and up until The Clinton Administration. Really fascinating actually and it includes how this affects all of the people of this country. Great read.
April 27, 2022
Written well in general, and follows a very concise and accurate timeline which is really great. But it’s very much written by a white male and leaves perspectives of the many people of color and women throughout Welfare’s history, who either fought for or were the targets of the destruction of the welfare-state.
Would like to see what the author thought of the rest of Clinton’s, as well as Bush’s and Obama’s work in the welfare-state.
Would recommend with other readings alongside it to give better perspective on top of Trattner’s really nice timeline.
Would like to see what the author thought of the rest of Clinton’s, as well as Bush’s and Obama’s work in the welfare-state.
Would recommend with other readings alongside it to give better perspective on top of Trattner’s really nice timeline.
September 20, 2017
I enjoyed this book very much. I have no background in the subject of poor or welfare, other than what I picked up in various specials or newspaper articles. I found the timespan (precolonial to mid Clinton presidency) and variety of social topics covered to be very helpful. The cyclical nature of varied attitudes towards the poor/needy is well demonstrated, as is the growth and challenges faced by the social work profession.
October 20, 2022
Had to read for my policy class. Interesting to read about the origins of policy and how it influenced the profession of social work. Pretty boring at times. Also written from a white male’s perspective, so definitely interested in reading more about the history of policy but from a different point of view. Seemed like there was missing info on civil rights era and role of women in the various time periods this book covers.
March 15, 2022
I was assigned this book for a graduate school class and found it fascinating. Now, after working for 20 years in public policy to address these very issues, I would like to read it again. I could either read the paperback copy on my shelf with all my marginal notes and underlining from last time, or I could buy an updated version.
June 12, 2022
It took me forever to get through this book since the material is so dense, however there is a lot of helpful information about the history of welfare and social work.
I also enjoyed learning about how various presidents handled unemployment and poverty issues. My version only went to Clinton's presidency. I would like to read a more updated version including the year 2020.
I also enjoyed learning about how various presidents handled unemployment and poverty issues. My version only went to Clinton's presidency. I would like to read a more updated version including the year 2020.
July 31, 2022
Informative and detailed. I appreciated the chronological approach rather than topical. Would have loved a few timeline images, and some graphs/charts to decipher the eb and flow of various policies through the years. At times it was hard to keep track of which welfare benefits continued from one administration to the next, and which were eradicated or replaced.
September 12, 2025
Read this book for a social policy class. Overall interesting perspective of the history of American welfare. I wish there was a greater emphasis on how people of color contributed to modern policy and welfare as well as a better rounding out of what historical contexts were happening in line with policy, but there is only so much one can put in a book to make it cohesive.
May 15, 2019
Excellent historical representation of welfare in America showing how our welfare culture has shifted over time from feudalism to what it is today. Learning the history of responsibility on who took care of the needy puts a lot of things into perspective.
April 13, 2023
it is what it is
Read
October 19, 2023for my thesis! which is almost done thank fuck...
June 15, 2025
History of America abandoning social programs
December 2, 2014
I started reading this book to prepare for the 2012 election, since the welfare state was one of the main issues in contention that year, and I figured I might as well bone up a bit on its origins and evolution.
(I did not finish the book by the time the election happened. It's dry, densely written and makes for slow going, even if the subject matter is vitally important.)
Also, I very much recommend reading the author's prefaces. In the Sixth Edition (the edition I read), there are six of them, in reverse chronological order, written between 1973 (the First Edition) and 1998 (the sixth), and each one lists the things the author has added to the book to cover the things that had changed in social welfare policy since the last edition. What I found most interesting -- and also very darkly amusing -- were his personal hopes and predictions that he concludes every preface with, and that every succeeding preface opens by addressing just how wrong he was in the previous preface, and how things have actually turned out so much worse than he could have imagined.
Most hilariously (or most depressingly, depending on your mood) the most recent edition was published in 1998, during the second term of Bill Clinton. One can only imagine what the author of this book would write if he were to publish a Seventh Edition!
After the prefaces, there is a Background section that briefly discusses how the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Jews, the early Christians, the medieval Europeans and finally the England of Queen Elizabeth I treated their poor and homeless citizens. It is the Poor Laws of this latter time and place that is given the most attention, since they are the most direct predecessor to the laws of the earliest English colonies in America.
The themes that he establishes in his description of the Elizabethan Poor Laws -- categories of deserving and undeserving poor, the question of whose duty it is to find work for idle vagrants, helpful vs. punitive approaches to homelessness, unemployment and beggary -- will show up again and again throughout the rest of the book.
The rest of the book covers all of American history up to (and including part of) the Clinton presidency, with each chapter dealing with a discrete unit of time. He does not break them up by periodicity, but by notable changes in policy, or sometimes disruptive events like the American Revolution or the Civil War.
The first chapter deals with the colonial period (about 1620-1700); the second with the era of the American Revolution (that's what its title says, but it would be more accurate to call it the entire 18th century); the third deals with the first half of the 19th century, concentrating on "the trend toward indoor relief" ("indoor relief" meaning poorhouses, workhouses, "poor farms" and similar institutional settings); and the fourth with the Civil War and the period immediately following it. After that, the chapter organization shifts to being more thematic than chronological, though the overall direction of successive chapters is still forward in time. The fifth chapter talks about child welfare, and the approach that emerged in the 19th century to treat poor and indigent children differently, and create different institutions to serve (or, less charitably, warehouse) them, than poor and indigent adults. This was also around the time that laws against child labor were being enacted, and schooling was becoming mandatory for all children. The next three chapters are about the Public Health movement, the Settlement House movement (settlement houses being ), and the mental-health movement. Then there are chapters on the "renaissance of public welfare" at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, and the "quest for professionalization," or the transition between social-welfare type work being mostly private, individual or religious charity work and the development of a body of professionals analogous to doctors, nurses, teachers, pharmacists etc. Following that chapter, the organization of chapters reverts to a more straightforward chronological order, with chapters on social work and welfare in the 1920s; the Depression and New Deal eras; the World War II and Great Society eras; the transitional period of the late 1960s and early 1970s, that bridges the gap between the Great Society and the Reaganesque approach to social-welfare policy that continues to dominate today. The last two chapters deal with Reagan's policies, and their continuation by Presidents Bush and Clinton.
(I did not finish the book by the time the election happened. It's dry, densely written and makes for slow going, even if the subject matter is vitally important.)
Also, I very much recommend reading the author's prefaces. In the Sixth Edition (the edition I read), there are six of them, in reverse chronological order, written between 1973 (the First Edition) and 1998 (the sixth), and each one lists the things the author has added to the book to cover the things that had changed in social welfare policy since the last edition. What I found most interesting -- and also very darkly amusing -- were his personal hopes and predictions that he concludes every preface with, and that every succeeding preface opens by addressing just how wrong he was in the previous preface, and how things have actually turned out so much worse than he could have imagined.
Most hilariously (or most depressingly, depending on your mood) the most recent edition was published in 1998, during the second term of Bill Clinton. One can only imagine what the author of this book would write if he were to publish a Seventh Edition!
After the prefaces, there is a Background section that briefly discusses how the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Jews, the early Christians, the medieval Europeans and finally the England of Queen Elizabeth I treated their poor and homeless citizens. It is the Poor Laws of this latter time and place that is given the most attention, since they are the most direct predecessor to the laws of the earliest English colonies in America.
The themes that he establishes in his description of the Elizabethan Poor Laws -- categories of deserving and undeserving poor, the question of whose duty it is to find work for idle vagrants, helpful vs. punitive approaches to homelessness, unemployment and beggary -- will show up again and again throughout the rest of the book.
The rest of the book covers all of American history up to (and including part of) the Clinton presidency, with each chapter dealing with a discrete unit of time. He does not break them up by periodicity, but by notable changes in policy, or sometimes disruptive events like the American Revolution or the Civil War.
The first chapter deals with the colonial period (about 1620-1700); the second with the era of the American Revolution (that's what its title says, but it would be more accurate to call it the entire 18th century); the third deals with the first half of the 19th century, concentrating on "the trend toward indoor relief" ("indoor relief" meaning poorhouses, workhouses, "poor farms" and similar institutional settings); and the fourth with the Civil War and the period immediately following it. After that, the chapter organization shifts to being more thematic than chronological, though the overall direction of successive chapters is still forward in time. The fifth chapter talks about child welfare, and the approach that emerged in the 19th century to treat poor and indigent children differently, and create different institutions to serve (or, less charitably, warehouse) them, than poor and indigent adults. This was also around the time that laws against child labor were being enacted, and schooling was becoming mandatory for all children. The next three chapters are about the Public Health movement, the Settlement House movement (settlement houses being ), and the mental-health movement. Then there are chapters on the "renaissance of public welfare" at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, and the "quest for professionalization," or the transition between social-welfare type work being mostly private, individual or religious charity work and the development of a body of professionals analogous to doctors, nurses, teachers, pharmacists etc. Following that chapter, the organization of chapters reverts to a more straightforward chronological order, with chapters on social work and welfare in the 1920s; the Depression and New Deal eras; the World War II and Great Society eras; the transitional period of the late 1960s and early 1970s, that bridges the gap between the Great Society and the Reaganesque approach to social-welfare policy that continues to dominate today. The last two chapters deal with Reagan's policies, and their continuation by Presidents Bush and Clinton.
August 15, 2024
I teach a college course on social welfare history where this is the assigned text and I’ve come to love this book. HOWEVER my students struggle to stay engaged in the text. I think this book requires a lot of focus, time and maturity to really enjoy. It’s so rich in history and data, and paints a cohesive and nuanced perspective of social welfare history. I thought it was very gripping and fascinating. Unfortunately, I would have to break down the book for my students each week and was pretty sure none of them were actually reading it.
April 30, 2012
A textbook on the history of social welfare in America. A very revealing look into the changing attitudes toward the poor and needy and the many and varied solutions both public and private that have been tried over the centuries. A basic pattern emerges of alternance between viewing the needy as defective and viewing them as helpless victims of conditions beyond their control.
March 19, 2009
I enjoyed reading this book, although it was for my Social Policy Class. I have to write a Seven page paper on it, which I am doing now. Overall, the book gives a historical viewpoint on welfare system in America, and shows us how we have changed since then.
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September 7, 2007have to read this for school.
April 20, 2008
An amazing history!
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September 23, 2010"From Poor Law to Welfare State, 6th Edition: A History of Social Welfare in America by Walter I. Trattner (1998)"
September 8, 2012
This book is basically a history of policies and attitudes towards social welfare in the United States. It is a little bit dry but also very informative and comprehensive.
July 19, 2014
I love the very overt progressive agenda Trattner has throughout the book
January 2, 2011
Written in an engaging style, and sympathetic to the left.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews