Phillips-Fein & Skocpol

What event anchors Phillips-Fein’s analysis?

New York City’s 1975 fiscal crisis and near bankruptcy.

According to Phillips-Fein, what was the fiscal crisis really about?

A political transformation that legitimized austerity and weakened democratic governance.

How does Phillips-Fein characterize austerity?

As a political project framed as economic necessity.

Who gained power during the fiscal crisis?

Financial elites, bankers, and technocratic decision-makers.

Who lost power during the fiscal crisis?

Elected officials, labor unions, and ordinary New Yorkers.

How did federal leaders (like Ford) justify refusing a bailout?

By framing New York’s problems as the result of irresponsible liberal spending.

What role did liberal politicians play in the rise of austerity?

Many liberals embraced cuts, efficiency, and discipline, transforming liberalism from within.

How does Phillips-Fein treat race and class in the crisis?

They were central in impact but largely invisible in public rhetoric.

What does Phillips-Fein argue austerity did to democracy?

It narrowed political debate by presenting cuts as inevitable and non-political.

What long-term legacy did the crisis leave?

A more unequal, finance-driven city and a normalized politics of austerity.

What is Skocpol’s central question?

Why American social policy developed unevenly and is resistant to expansion.

What institutional features shape U.S. social policy, according to Skocpol?

Federalism, fragmented government, and weak centralized authority.

What types of programs are most politically durable in the U.S.?

Universal or contributory social insurance programs (e.g., Social Security).

What is a “policy feedback effect”?

Policies reshape political coalitions, expectations, and future political possibilities.

Why are means-tested programs politically vulnerable?

They are stigmatized, target the poor, and lack broad middle-class support.

How does Skocpol explain welfare backlash?

Institutional design and racialized narratives undermine support for targeted aid.

How does Skocpol view American liberalism?

As constrained and shaped by institutional pathways, not just ideology.

What does Skocpol argue about state capacity in the U.S.?

It is fragmented and uneven, limiting ambitious social reform.

What role do political parties play in Skocpol’s account?

Parties operate within institutional constraints that limit reform.

How do both authors treat liberalism?

As transformed and constrained, not simply defeated by conservatism.

How does Phillips-Fein explain austerity?

As crisis-driven and politically imposed.

Which author emphasizes finance and debt more directly?

Phillips-Fein.

Which author emphasizes policy durability and feedback?

Skocpol.

According to Phillips-Fein, austerity politics emerged primarily from…

A crisis framed as economic necessity that shifted power to financial elites.

According to Skocpol, social programs endure when they are…

Universal, contributory, and politically self-reinforcing.

Both authors suggest that liberal governance in the late 20th century became more…

Constrained, technocratic, and less democratically responsive.