Stephan Leibfried Nutritional Minima and the State On the Institutionalization of Professional Knowledge in National Social Policy in the U.S. and Germany Zes - Arbeitspapier Nr. 10/92 Zentrum für Sozialpolitik Universität Bremen Postfach 33 04 40 W-2800 Bremen 33 Contents 1 Introduction . 3 1.1 Arenas ofWelfare State Structure . 3 1.2 Formative Years of the Standardization of a Minimum in Social Poliey-A Prelude 6 2 The Institutionalization ofNutritional Minima at the National Level- Different Routes to Uni­ versal Benefits . 11 2.1 The U. S. Case: Federalizing Home Eeonomics-The Incidental Edueational Route to Uni­ versal, Ineomplete and In-Kind Welfare Benefits ("Food Stamps") . .. 11 2.2 The German Case: Total Rationing in Both Wars-the DirectMonetary Route to Universal and Comprehensive National Welfare Benefits ("Sozialhilfe") . 21 3 Trends of State Institutionalization of Minima Compared . 29 3.1 Universalization ofEntitiement through the Central State and Nourishment 29 3.2 Soeial Knowledge and the Totalization ofInstitutions by the State . 30 3.3 The Distinct Relevance ofWar for the Formation of the Welfare State 31 3.4 The Peeuliarities ofLinkage Berween Nutritional Standards and State Policy 32 3.5 Divergenee in the Evolution of the Scientific Standard. 33 3.6 "Moral Economy of the Welfare State"-Phasing Symbolic vs. Delivery Politics . 33 4 Biographies of Key Actors . 35 5 References . 41 5.1 Overview of Key Studies Relied upon 41 5.2 Bibliography 41 Index. 55 Table~ 1.1 Major Historieal Currents-Views ofPoverty Operationalized . 5 1.2 Welfare State Arenas . 6 1.3 Formative Years for the Standardization of a Minimum in Social Policy 7 2.1 Foci of Seientific Coneeptions in Nutritional Research of Human Nutritional Need Before World War! . .. ... .. ......... ........... ......... 14 I am grateful to Petcr Baldwin, Faith Clark, David Ellwood. RageT Haydon, E. Peter Hennock. Dan Levine, Mollie Orshansky, 1I0na üstner, ßetty B. Peterkin, Hans J. Tcurcberg, Dietrich Rüschcmcyer, Wolfgang Sachs, Peter Townsend and lohn Veit \Vjlson for COl11l11Cllts and suggestions, to Florian Tennstedt for providing seme of the material, and to Abby Collins und Lothar Meycr-Lcrbs for cditing support. Alfons Lahisch pointed out same literature for a start. Eliz'lbcth Swaim ur Wesleyan University was helpfu1 wirh ehe Atwater Papers. Sabinc Lührs und Murat Kuru were of crucial hclp in searching for much of the literature. Inspite of all chis support, ultimatcly, sti ll "the buck stops here", with me. 1 am thankful to The German Marshall Fund of the United States for financial support and to rhe Center for European Studies at I-Iarvard University and to The ßroolcings Institution, including its librarians, for "logistical" support of this study. The manuscript was finished in Spring of 1989 and its bibliography has not been updated. The names of persons whosc wodes are shown in the bibliography are capitalizcd throughout ehe text. 1 Introduction and both of which-still today-focus more on an "absolute" notion of poverty than do welfare states "Ou.r ed1lcation in need in the rest ofNorthern Europe4 Nevertheless, this is a tragie passage state policy linkage evolved quite differencly in the from blindness to sigbt. " U. S. than it did in West Germany. The state and (IGNATIEFF 1984: 20) some ofits subsectors played divergent roles in insti­ tutionalizing such benchmark standarels, and soeial knowledge is organized distinctively in cl,e process. 1.1 Arenas ofWelfare State Structure The mix ofknowledge bearing groups, which are re­ sponsible for developing these standards is different In the U. S. and West Germany incomes- and for both countries. The process in which standards means-tested welfare state programs, which are are set is slanted differencly and also the locus of the (I) Jedemi, (2) universal and (3) uniform, and which professions within state structure differs. therefore encompass the whole nation,l share one In general, development in the U. S. is char­ characteristic: they are "food based". Their legitima­ acterized by its containment in a state-organized tion rests on a notion of a nutritionally-anchored "agricultural nexus" and bya relatively long period (social) minimum, which has been elaborated in of state-induced "education" about proper, pro­ terms of nutritional physiology and "domestic sci­ gressive "scientific eating" or "scientific cookery" ence" since the turn of the century. Even though (SHAPIRO 1986: 74) be fore a benchmark standard subsistence requires much more than food, food­ for delivering benefits could be institutionalized na­ and not housing or clothing-has historically been tionally. Since symbolic politics is so central in the central for building a standard of support and meas­ U. S.) "dOInestic science", i.e. home econom..ics, and urement, for structuring a view on poverty policy. also gender played a stronger role in the U. S. than in The expl icit legal tie, tbe strzu:tumllinkage ofsocial Germany. Also, in a pragmatic way, politics shaped policy to nutritional knowledge is unique to these two the professionalization of the issue itself more read­ Western countries,2 both ofwhich are federal states) ily in the U. S. ("politieal entreprenenrmode!"). In Ger- 1Ilany the nornlal "state-un..iversity-science nexus" I. Sincc attention in this study is focused on encompassing structures the nutrition-policy linkage, with pro­ national features of welfare state building, state and IDeal fessionals contributing from their evolving spec.ial­ govcrnmcnts' contributions to welfare are not central [0 this izations as normal "publie servants" ("expert mode!"). essay. The road to state institutionalization of such a 2. Even though Brirain's development of"Supplementary Ben­ standard for benefit delivery is much shorter and efies" after World War 11 had a similar background in "fooel" legitimation (cf. amongst others Assistance Board 1942), the preparatory role of pure "education" less pro­ a formal, ICbrat link between nutritiona! knowledge alld nounced. An issue-specific, a manifest "force-fed" welfare policy was never established theTe (cf. LEIßFRIED institutionalization throngh the state, which avoids 1983:723ff.; MAVJ-IEW 1986; 1988 gives same of the inter­ traditional and builds new issue- and lobby-bound war background-sec LEITCH 1942 for a contemporary viewj cf. for a systcmatic study PETrY 1987). That these problems state ehannels, characterizes the U . S. case. Routine are still intcnscly fought over in recent times is revealcd by integration of differentiating scientific develop­ Memorandum 1977. ment and of issues into pre-existing-and then 3. In Illany Western countries earlier 20th century wclfare re­ widened-state channels is more typical for the forms did build on the nutritional-rninimum-approach, e.g. in Britain and Norway. But in these countries this approach German experience. Institutionalization of social was only associated with the take-off phase in welfare state knowledge in Germany nevertheless is "force-fed", buildingj it rcccdcd into the background afterwards. Only in but cllis is less obviously so, since there the pro­ Germany and the USA did thi s standard hold until today, cess fades into the background of a general pattern though in Germany it is now losing some of its grip. That the food concept has stayed so attractive for thc U. S. of strong and comprehensive state activity. In both and Gcrmany until today may have to do wirb thc fact mat nutritiona! minima are often seen as absolute eonccptual­ fits better to the U. S. and West German wclfare states than iz.1tions of povcrty. With such coneepts strong welfare state with some of me omer European countries. redistributivc programs benefitting the poor, and universa l­ 4. Cf., e.g., me Scandinavian countries, ßritain and the Nether­ ist wclfarc reforms are dcemphasized-a politieal bias which lands. 3 cases the institutionalization of professional social " ... there is an irreducible co re of absolute depriva­ knowledge in national social policy is part of an tion in our idea of poverty, which translares into exercise in stflte building. a diagnosis of poverty without having to ascertain The "hard core" of the incomes- and meam-tested first the relative picture" (SEN 1981: 17). This no­ American Federal welfare state5 is Food Stamps, a tion relates to a-traditionai1-elementary "moral program fixed on "in-kind delivery" of food through horizon" underlying the welfare state from its ear­ stamps, which allows its food base to stand out vis­ liesr building stages in the 20th eentury (cf. Ta­ ibly and with some stigma-when compared with ble 1.1). Food rights seem to be the most solid, the normal "cash nexus" to which many other prom­ compaet and oldest case of"needs make rights" (IG­ inent welfare programs are tied 6 Only with Food NATIEFF 1984: 13) in the welfare state - the most in­ Stamps a Federally-legislated and financed, nation­ tensive area of proving "society as a moral commu­ ally uniform as weil as indexed benefit, is avail­ nity". They can be more easily constructed-with able to all the poor and not just to some categories consensus-, seeming to use only the individual as (BERRY 1984: 67f.). West Germany's centerpiece is "primary element" (cf. Table 1.1). And the nutri­ "public assistance" ("Sozialhilfe"), a transfer pro­ tional, professionally-Iegitimated minimum seems gram which covers all costs of Iiving for the poor. to provide the elaborate, extra apparatus, whieh, Here the food base is anchored in a comprehen­ anee in plaee, can serve as a moral uguiding", ufor­ sive "market basket", in which alt currem needs are cing", and "staging mechanism" which gives a quasi­ addressed. This makes the food base of this wel­ automatic direction to the creation of the ultimate fare program less evident. Nevertheless, the benefit safety-net in the welfare stare. standards of"Sozialhilfe" have beenlegitimated his­ The conceptualization of poverty in the social torically mainly through its food component; this sciences, and in some countries also in soeial pol­ was, until recently, the onlycomponentofthe stand­ iey, has moved up one level from the "subsistence" ard thought to have "scientific" backing.