Beyond Entitlement: The Social Obligations of Citizenship

Mead's Beyond Entitlement broke the old politics of welfare, where the left cried for more money for welfare while the right barked for less. Mead shifted the argument to the question of citizen obligation, as in, "what ought be expected of those who receive welfare?" Asking this question broke the political gridlock and opened the doors for welfare reform. His view can be called big government conservatism, which holds that the able-bodied must work but insists that government must provide support (like day care) to enable welfare recipients to hold work.