Old Age Security in Comparative Perspective

This book examines a central element of social welfare, old age security, exploring the history of policies in both developed and underdeveloped countries to assess their structure, ideology and effectiveness. The authors test five theoretical perspectives on old-age security policy in four industrial nations (the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany) and three developing countries (India, Nigeria, Brazil), challenging the view that old age policy is the outcome of class conflict between capital and labour. Instead, the authors adopt a neo-pluralist perspective which emphasizes the influence of ethnic religious and regional groups, as well as "the grey lobby", over that of class-based groups. The authors attempt to test ideas derived in part from these historical case studies by analysing quantitative data from a broader sample of countries (18 industrial nationa and 32 developing nations), and they use these results to anticipate future policy developments in the U.S.

Review :
"Williamson and Pampel make an obvious contribution to the academic literature...."--Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare "Williamson and Pampel are to be congratulated for achieving simultaneous breakthroughs in the comparative study of modern social policies. Creatively synthesizing quantitative and comparative historical methodologies, they also bring Third World and advanced-industrial nations into a common framework of analysis. An extraordinary achievement--because recent comparative histories have focused only on highly industrial nations. This book is also theoretically creative, building upon and synthesizing theoretical ideas from several schools of thought. I expect Old-Ave Security in Comparative Perspective to attract wide interest among scholars, students, and public policy analysts."--Theda Skocpol, Harvard University "A major accomplishment! Old Age Security in Comparative Perspective is tightly argued, scholarly in its detail, but always lucid and clear to read. The analytical structure of the book is exemplary. By combining carefully constructed case studies with confirmatory quantitative analysis, the authors go a long way to achieving the methodological synthesis that many have called for but few have achieved. This is the first book to systematically incorporate the developing countries of the Third World into an analysis of the modern welfare state. By so doing, Williamson and Pampel extend the boundaries of conventional welfare state studies dramatically. The combination of theory, empirical elegance, and lucid writing will make this a text that will stand up well in advanced undergraduate and graduate level courses in political sociology, social policy, and social gerontology."--John Myles, Florida State University "Williamson and Pampel convincingly squelch theories of the welfare state that argue that a single variable such as the strength of organized labor can adequately predict either the levels of spending or the quality of social programs. Rather their insightful and detailed analysis of both industrialized and Third World nations suggests that the most fruitful line of inquiry for future research on the welfare state lies in explaining alternate pathways and variations in outcomes."--Jill Quadagno, Florida State University "The U.S. economists who advise emerging East European nations and Latin American countries on their old age policies should read this book. It offers a sophisticated understanding of how old age programs assuage class divisions and, in other nations, yield to the ethnic cleavages by providing individual-based pensions."--Journal of Economic Literature "Williamson and Pampel make an obvious contribution to the academic literature...."--Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare "Williamson and Pampel are to be congratulated for achieving simultaneous breakthroughs in the comparative study of modern social policies. Creatively synthesizing quantitative and comparative historical methodologies, they also bring Third World and advanced-industrial nations into a common framework of analysis. An extraordinary achievement--because recent comparative histories have focused only on highly industrial nations. This book is also theoretically creative, building upon and synthesizing theoretical ideas from several schools of thought. I expect Old-Ave Security in Comparative Perspective to attract wide interest among scholars, students, and public policy analysts."--Theda Skocpol, Harvard University "A major accomplishment! Old Age Security in Comparative Perspective is tightly argued, scholarly in its detail, but always lucid and clear to read. The analytical structure of the book is exemplary. By combining carefully constructed case studies with confirmatory quantitative analysis, the authors go a long way to achieving the methodological synthesis that many have called for but few have achieved. This is the first book to systematically incorporate the developing countries of the Third World into an analysis of the modern welfare state. By so doing, Williamson and Pampel extend the boundaries of conventional welfare state studies dramatically. The combination of theory, empirical elegance, and lucid writing will make this a text that will stand up well in advanced undergraduate and graduate level courses in political sociology, social policy, and social gerontology."--John Myles, Florida State University "Williamson and Pampel convincingly squelch theories of the welfare state that argue that a single variable such as the strength of organized labor can adequately predict either the levels of spending or the quality of social programs. Rather their insightful and detailed analysis of both industrialized and Third World nations suggests that the most fruitful line of inquiry for future research on the welfare state lies in explaining alternate pathways and variations in outcomes."--Jill Quadagno, Florida State University "The U.S. economists who advise emerging East European nations and Latin American countries on their old age policies should read this book. It offers a sophisticated understanding of how old age programs assuage class divisions and, in other nations, yield to the ethnic cleavages by providing individual-based pensions."--Journal of Economic Literature "An insightful, fresh look at the origins of today's income protection programs for the elderly."--James H. Schulz, Brandeis University "Williamson and Pampel break new ground in the understanding of public pensions and other age-related programs and enactments. They succeed admirably in demonstrating the utility of certain models of policy development, while providing reasons for questioning the utility of others. Their discussion sparkles with insight, and is richly informed by the relevant literature. The book is a tour de force, and appears destined to leave a lasting impression."--Henry Pratt, Wayne State University "This book represents that rarest of achievements: a rigorously theory-driven combination of historical case studies and quantitative cross-national analysis. By including case studies of three Third World countries, it is also a breakthrough towards a truly global view of social policy."--Martin Kohli, Freie Universität Berlin "This is probably the only available systematic analysis of Western Europe and developing countries that exists in the literature. It is a brilliant attempt to develop a common framework for comparative analysis across space and time. It is 'must' reading for anyone interested in the development of the welfare state."--Martin Rein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology "The book puts an inexorable claim on our attention as teachers and researchers of comparative political economy, political sociology, and the welfare state."--American Journal of Sociology "This outstanding book deserves the attention of a broader audience than welfare state scholars..."--National Political Science Review