The return of ordinary capitalism : neoliberalism, precarity, occupy

"As Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward argued in the early seventies, in a capitalist economy, social welfare policies alternatingly serve political and economic ends as circumstances dictate. In moments of political stability, governments emphasize a capitalistic work ethic (even if it means working a job that will leave one impoverished); when times are less politically stable, states liberalize welfare policies to recreate the conditions for political acquiescence. Sanford Schram has argued that each swing of this cycle can be seen as producing its own path dependency of diminishing returns for the poor, even while people increasingly become dependent upon public assistance. This produces a new normal in which economic inequality increases with each cycle: political discourse shifts to a focus on national debt while the poor and working class are disciplined to be market-compliant actors. As Schram points out, recent economic downturns have accelerated these shifts. He calls this a return to "ordinary capitalism," or a return to destabilizing conditions that increase political gridlock on issues of social welfare and forestall any momentum to address problems brought about by the changing economy. In this book, Schram, building on a lifetime of writings on public welfare, looks at the ways in which this shift affects social policymaking across a range of policy areas, including welfare policy, drug treatment programs, and education. Drawing on a number of cases, he proposes ways to better account for these shifts toward ordinary capitalism and highlights instances of programs that work well in order to suggest paths toward a more progressive politics"--