Rights, Struggles And Public Policies: Social Security In The United States During The Sixties

Abstract

The 1960 decade is one of the most interesting moments of
American history in terms of social struggles. Race and class
conflicts linked each other, creating a permanent climate of
social mobilization. Meanwhile, the economic consensus of
the immediate postwar period began to find its limits. Understanding
social rights as consequences of struggles and, above
all, as valid only if socially legitimate, in this paper there is a
study of the formation of extended social security during this
decade, in terms of its relationship with the struggles and conflicts
that arose during those years. With a special attention
on the creation of health insurance programs, but also recognizing
the remarkable transformation of the elderly income
coverage, in this paper it is stressed that the sixties show the
way how Fordist-typed integration models necessarily present
weaknesses when implemented in unequal societies, where
their benefits do not reach everyone. This way, an extended
social security arises as a government response to the insufficiencies
of the Fordist cotributive model, but at the same time
crashes with the limits imposed by the traditional American
ways. Causes, development and limits of the 60’s social security
are studied here, always in terms of thinking rights, above
all, as social conquests. This means, as the result of a struggle
process, material and ideological all at once.

Keywords: Social security – Social rights – Health insurance –
Struggles – Public Policy.