Joshua T. McCabe
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190841300
- eISBN:
- 9780190841331
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190841300.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change, Population and Demography
Chapter 1 challenges the conventional wisdom on American exceptionalism in regard to tax and social policy. After setting up the puzzle and outlining why previous theories cannot explain them, it ...
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Chapter 1 challenges the conventional wisdom on American exceptionalism in regard to tax and social policy. After setting up the puzzle and outlining why previous theories cannot explain them, it lays out the book’s main arguments in detail. First, it outlines the book’s theory of fiscalization as an obfuscation strategy. Second, it outlines a new theory of the cultural legacies of public policies. It is not, as most scholars argue, the legacy of the Poor Law that explains America’s exceptional tax credits but rather the absence of a legacy of family allowances. It argues that “logics of appropriateness,” institutionalized in policy legacies, can limit the ability of future policymakers to extend benefits to seemingly deserving target populations. The legitimacy of a policy depends not only on who is receiving it and whether it is effective but also on how they are receiving it.Less
Chapter 1 challenges the conventional wisdom on American exceptionalism in regard to tax and social policy. After setting up the puzzle and outlining why previous theories cannot explain them, it lays out the book’s main arguments in detail. First, it outlines the book’s theory of fiscalization as an obfuscation strategy. Second, it outlines a new theory of the cultural legacies of public policies. It is not, as most scholars argue, the legacy of the Poor Law that explains America’s exceptional tax credits but rather the absence of a legacy of family allowances. It argues that “logics of appropriateness,” institutionalized in policy legacies, can limit the ability of future policymakers to extend benefits to seemingly deserving target populations. The legitimacy of a policy depends not only on who is receiving it and whether it is effective but also on how they are receiving it.
