State Political Culture and Welfare Reform

Abstract

I investigate the link between the general features of state governments and their ability to reform welfare. The best indicator of governments’ characteristics is Elazar's political cultures. I define what successful welfare reform means, drawing on implementation research and experience. My criteria stress process, the avoidance of political and administrative problems. I then test the link between the Elazar cultures and successful reform using recent case studies of state implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Elazar's “moralistic” states perform best, and the association holds, even controlling for other influences. Results depend, however, on how welfare reform is defined.

Coverage of infertility treatment and fertility outcomes

“…requirements for welfare eligibility in the 1980s and early 1990s (Mead 2004). For the interpretation of our analysis it is important to know the group (treatment, control, or not in the sample) to which these early adopters of welfare reform belong.…”

A Historical Analysis of Public School Sex Education in America Since 1900

“…The first was the federal welfare caseload that expanded out of control. From 1965 to 1994 welfare rolls grew each year, with states recognizing the crisis when the total number of people enrolled reached 14 million (Mead, 2004). The costs to taxpayers were increasing so quickly that Congress was unsure how to accurately estimate the cost for the coming year.…”

Definitely Not Moralistic: State Political Culture and Support for Donald Trump in the Race for the 2016 Republican Presidential Nomination

“…Moralistic states have higher levels of political participation, more competitive parties, stronger merit personnel systems, and more liberal and innovative programming. Traditionalistic states, on the other hand, tend to display less of these characteristics while individualistic states tend to fall in between the two other cultures (Mead 2004 ).…”

“…Elazar's theory is based on the immigration and migration patterns of ethnic groups and religions. Elazar's scheme has widely been seen as the most promising eff ort to map American political cultures and the best way to characterize state political culture (Mead 2004 ). According to Elazar, the national political culture is the synthesis of three major political subcultures that are dominant in varying parts of the country: moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic.…”