Public Attitudes Toward Social Security 1935 1965

This study is an examination of public reaction to the Social Security Act of 1935 and its various provisions, and to the proposals for its extension, from its enactment to the fall of 1965. Lt is an examination of the way in which these provisions were understood, the degree to which they were accepted, and the underlying attitudes toward poverty that are presumed to be associated with them. The basic data analyzed in this study were obtained in nationwide public opinion surveys that have been taken by a variety of agencies since 1935, notably those conducted by the American Institute of Public Opinion (the Gallup poll), Elmo Roper (principally for Fortune Magazine), the National Opinion Research Center (now affiliated with the University of Chicago), and the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan. This study was undertaken in the conviction that whatever information is available on these matters ought to be retrieved and assimilated, because inevitably it will improve our understanding of the process by which a free, competitive society can solve the paradox of poverty amid abundance.

This study is an examination of public reaction to the Social Security Act of 1935 and its various provisions, and to the proposals for its extension, from its enactment to the fall of 1965. Lt is an examination of the way in which these provisions were understood, the degree to which they were accepted, and the underlying attitudes toward poverty that are presumed to be associated with them. The basic data analyzed in this study were obtained in nationwide public opinion surveys that have been taken by a variety of agencies since 1935, notably those conducted by the American Institute of Public Opinion (the Gallup poll), Elmo Roper (principally for Fortune Magazine), the National Opinion Research Center (now affiliated with the University of Chicago), and the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan. This study was undertaken in the conviction that whatever information is available on these matters ought to be retrieved and assimilated, because inevitably it will improve our understanding of the process by which a free, competitive society can solve the paradox of poverty amid abundance.

Franklin Roosevelt envisioned social security to be the cornerstone 'for the kind of protection America wants' from the financial troubles people faced due to old age and family tragedies. By fulfilling its initial promise, social security has evolved into the nation's largest, costliest, and most successful domestic institution. But the optimistic assumptions that inspired its incremental expansion have dissipated in the face of demographic, political, economic, and cultural shifts in American society. Social Security: Visions and Revisions encourages lawmakers, academic experts, and general readers alike to think more broadly and boldly about social security and its relation to public assistance and other income-maintenance and health-care programs. Pulling together information and insights previously scattered and fragmentary, this 1986 book draws lessons from the past that free us of outdated assumptions and unexamined shibboleths. The re-vision of social security that Achenbaum advocates should become the basis of all discussions of government's responsibility to promote 'the general welfare' in our ageing society.

Over 2500 references about social security. Classified order. Author, subject indexes.