What's Love Got to Do With It?: A Critical Look at American Charity

An insightful debunking of the way charitable giving disguises American neglect of the public welfare. Observing that the United States has the weakest public social welfare system in the industrialized world, What's Love Got to Do With It? explores the extent to which the huge charity enterprise industry legitimates and supports this state of affairs. Independent philanthropy, the book argues, provides a cover for the harshness of America's free market capitalism. It also exposes the warlike posture of a state apparatus that focuses on discipline and correction rather than on eradicating inequality. David Wagner, a professor of social work and sociology at the University of Southern Maine, traces the origins of the charitable mystique from a historical and sociological perspective--from its religious roots in the missions to convert indigenous peoples, through the long period of the poorhouse, the rise of foundations, and the development of new alternative social service agencies. Wagner goes on to show how America has glorified its private sector at the expense of providing material benefits, such as income support, housing, or medical insurance, to its citizens. This has immense social costs, not the least of which is the institutionalization of poverty among many U.S. citizens. One of the few works to examine the overall role of charitable giving in America, What's Love Got to Do With It? is bound to spark debate and, ideally, reform.