A Study Of Social Security Act Of1935

The United States inherited the western humanitarianism thought, with thetradition of assisting the poor. After entering the industrial society, in order to easeclass contradictions and maintain social stability, the major European countriesestablished the social security system one after another. Affected by the Europeansocial security thought, along with the economic crisis from1929to1933, Americanschanged the thought of the past that people became poor was only because of theirlaziness and incompetence, and began to realize that nation had the obligation to helpthe poor. In1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the “Social Security Act”,establishing the social security system with pension insurance, unemploymentinsurance, social assistance at its core. Social Security Act established the basicframework of American social security system, which made the United States on theroad of a welfare state.The main body is divided into four chapters and the specific contents are asfollows.Chapter1is a general survey of the early social assistance in America. EarlyAmerican immigrants lived a tough life, so as to make a living, they could only adoptthe mode of mutual aid among neighbors. With the development of economy, thecolonies introduced the “Poor Law” of Britain to relieve the residents. After thefederal government was established, it promulgated the “Yates Report”, beginning totake the responsibility of security housing. After the civil war, on the one hand, thefederal government distributed pensions for veterans, and on the other hand, itestablished the Freedmen’s Bureau to provide help for the large numbers of the freedblack slaves. This is the federal government’s first large-scale intervention in socialwelfare. After the civil war, the United States took the lead in developing powerrevolution. By1900, American industrial production had been more than the sum of that of Britain, France and Germany, Japan, ranking the first in the world. However,the gap between the rich and the poor was very serious, so in order to ease the classcontradictions, the Congress supported by the progressives got through the “IndustrialInjury Insurance law”,“Minimum Wage Legislation” and “Legislation on Child”,initially building the social security system.The second chapter describes the establishment of the social security system inWestern countries. Britain established the social security system through abottom-up approach. Early in the18th century, British workers have spontaneouslyset up a friendly center to help the members through the mutual help from themembers. In1884, Webb and others established the “Fabian Society" in London,which advocated improving the workers’ living conditions through reform. From1908to1918, the Liberal government passed the “Unemployment Insurance”,"1908Unemployment Pension Act" and "National Security Law", with pension insurance,unemployment insurance, social assistance as the core. Germany also established thesocial security system through a bottom-up approach. In1881, the Kaiser William Iissued the "Golden Bull", announcing the establishment of "Social Security Act". In1881, the imperial parliament passed the “Law of Sickness Insurance”. In1883, theimperial parliament passed the "Law of Accident Insurance” In1889, William IIsigned the "Old Age and Disability Insurance Law". Since then, the Empireestablished the social security system with sickness insurance, accident insurance,pension insurance at its core. Before the first World War, in addition to America, themajor capitalist countries set up the social security system.The third chapter is mainly about the American economic crisis and Roosevelt’sNew Deal. On October24,1929, the New York stock market crashed, causing theeconomic crisis of1929-1933. The crisis caused a huge blow to American economyand society. There were more than5000banks crushed at that time. Economic losseswas up to$30million. The main industrial index backed up20years, and theagriculture index was less than the half of that of pre-war. Unemployment reached ashigh as17million, more than1/3of the working population. In the face of the crisis,the Roosevelt administration carried out new deals which could rectify finance, industry, agriculture, and employment. Roosevelt’s New Deal has created the statemonopoly capitalism. It strengthened the intervention in the economy and laid thefoundation for the establishment of the social security systemThe fourth chapter is the core of this paper. It introduces the United States"Social Security Law" in detail. In1934, through the "New Deal", the United Statesrecovered its economy in some degree, but there were still more than8millionunemployed workers, along with millions of helpless old people, which caused greatpressure to the government. In this case, the Roosevelt Administration promulgatedthe "Social Security Law" to ease the class contradictions and stabilize the social order."Social Security Law" was divided into eleven chapters, mainly including three parts,the pension insurance, unemployment insurance, social relief. This act has thecharacteristics of balanced rights and obligations, diversified finance raising, andnarrow coverage. Since1935, with the development of economy and social progress,"Social Security Act” has experienced many times revision and the improvement,which establishes a full range and high level of the social security system for theUnited States.“The Social Security Act” lay the foundation of American socialsecurity system, and it is the beginning of the United States’s construction of a welfarestate.The last part is the conclusion, which summarizes the development andachievements of American social security system and its help and reference to theconstruction of the social security system with Chinese characteristics.