The Third Lie

by Richard J. Gelles

“I am from the government and I am here to help you” is one of the three biggest lies, or so the old joke goes. Richard J. Gelles, dean of social policy at University of Pennsylvania, explains why government programs designed to cure social ills don’t work in sector after sector…and never could work. He demonstrates how each creates its own bureaucracy to monitor participation in the program, an entrenched administrative apparatus whose needs supersede those for whom the program was designed. Against this, he contrasts universal programs such as the GI Bill, Social Security, and Medicare, the most successful, sustained government programs ever established. Gelles’s provocative, controversial proposal for a universal entitlement to replace a raft of lumbering social programs should be read by all in social services, policy studies, and government.

152 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Dr. Richard J. Gelles is Former Dean (2001–2014) of the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also holds the Joanne T. and Raymond H. Welsh Chair of Child Welfare and Family Violence. He is Director for the Center for Research on Youth & Social Policy; Co-Faculty Director of the Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice, and Research; and Founding Director of the Evelyn Jacobs Ortner Center on Family Violence.

Dr. Gelles is an internationally known expert in domestic violence and child welfare and was influential in the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. His first book, The Violent Home (1974), was the first systematic investigation to provide empirical data on domestic violence. More recent books, such as The Book of David: How Preserving Families Can Cost Children's Lives and Intimate Violence in Families, Third Edition, have also made a significant impact in the study of child welfare and family violence. He is the author of 24 books and more than 100 articles, chapters, and papers.

Reviews

[Amandallp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Your legacy will be always with us. Thank you Professor Gelles.