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Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Political Economy, Moral Economy And The Medicare Modernization Act Of 2003, Judie Svihula
Political Economy, Moral Economy And The Medicare Modernization Act Of 2003, Judie Svihula
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Through the lens of political and moral economy, I examined the dominant values and actors in the legislative process of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. In my content analysis of federal hearings, I found that witnesses from government agencies, Congress and think tanks had almost equal presence at the hearings. Witnesses who were invited by Congress to testify at the hearings expressed twice as much support for private interests than for the general Medicare population or low-income beneficiaries. Few expressed concern for the uninsured population. Witnesses offered almost four times as many expressions of support for market rationalism than …
Social Security Privatization: An Ideologically Structured Movement, Judie Svihula, Carroll L. Estes
Social Security Privatization: An Ideologically Structured Movement, Judie Svihula, Carroll L. Estes
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
We document the cumulative change in expressions of support for Social Security's social insurance ideals to privatization,from the late 1970s through 2007. Social Security's basic structure and principles generally were supported by the United States government and in amendments to the original Act of 1935. However, in the 1980s market arguments began to proliferate in government alongside pension privatization projects by international governmental organizations and conservative think tanks. Although in 1983 Commission members concluded "the Social Security system is sound in principle.. and... structure," four members wrote a supplemental statement that emphasized market rationalism. By 1994 dissension in Congress was …