Next Social Contract Initiative

Archives: Next Social Contract Initiative Policy Papers

The Millennial Pendulum

  • By Peter Levine, Tufts University; Constance Flanagan, Pennsylvania State University; Les Gallay, Pennsylvania State University
February 1, 2009

Today’s young people have considerably more progressive opinions about economic issues than do their elders. Under-30s voted very strongly for Barack Obama in 2008 and expressed liberal views about the economy (and about other issues) in pre-election polls. Observers and strategists are now asking whether we will see a lasting change in American politics as a result of the Millennials’ arrival. It is possible that they are liberal because they are young, and they will move to the right as they grow older.

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A Family-Based Social Contract

  • By
  • Phillip Longman,
  • David Gray,
  • New America Foundation
November 25, 2008
Executive Summary

Americans instinctively revere the family as an institution that helps facilitate all other aspects of life. The family fosters attachments across generations, provides a nurturing environment in which to raise children, and is a means of transmitting values from one generation to the next. It is the foundation upon which our social contract has been built.

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Fiscally Responsible Stimulus

  • By
  • Maya MacGuineas,
  • Philip Sugg,
  • New America Foundation
November 10, 2008

In light of the current state of the economy, it appears likely that Congress will pass another stimulus package...

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget recognizes that there is a strong enough risk of a prolonged recession that a fiscal stimulus package may well make sense. Given the many risks associated with a significant downturn, it makes sense to err on the side of caution in determining whether more stimulus is appropriate. Assuming Congress proceeds with plans to offer some type of stimulus package, CRFB offers three recommendations.

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What Does 'Post-Partisan' Mean?

  • By
  • Phillip Longman,
  • New America Foundation
March 4, 2008

One might well have imagined over the last few years that we were headed toward an era of deeply partisan politics. Under the tutelage of Karl Rove, the Bush Administration “played to the base.” Most of the energy on the other end of the spectrum came from “netroots” bloggers who flamed Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, and the centrist Democratic Leadership Conference with nearly the same contempt they showed for George W. Bush and Karl Rove.

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The American Public and the Next Social Contract

  • By Cliff Zukin, Rutgers University
February 25, 2008

The first premise of the New America Foundation’s initiative on the Next Social Contract is that the structures that help American workers and their families balance economic security and opportunity involve much more than a set of government programs. What we call the social contract is a set of formal and informal systems and assumptions, involving individuals, employers and government, that provide, as Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

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Yeoman's Return

  • By
  • Phillip Longman,
  • New America Foundation
January 31, 2008

Though Americans are deeply divided in their politics, they still generally share one transcendent political value. It is the distinctly American notion that the widespread ownership of property—particularly homes, small businesses, and financial savings—benefits individuals and the nation. This core American belief descends from a political tradition in American life that is older than the Republic itself.

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The American Social Contract: From Drift to Mastery

  • By
  • Mark Schmitt,
  • New America Foundation
November 1, 2007

Executive Summary

Our social contract -- the formal and informal, public and private arrangements by which we ensure economic security and opportunity -- has evolved over the course of American history in response to changing economic and political conditions and demographic realities. This evolutionary process, in which the balance between individual responsibility and the responsibilities of government, employers, and civil society has been struck and restruck, has proceeded in fits and starts.

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The Stress of Balancing Work and Family

  • By
  • David Gray,
  • Kelleen Kaye,
  • New America Foundation
September 17, 2007

Executive Summary

American families confront major challenges in balancing work and family life. Workers report that they would prefer fewer hours, while new technological capabilities require parents to bring more job responsibilities home with them. Mothers and fathers encounter strain in work and home environments alike. Polling and surveillance data confirm that the balance between work and family care needs attention. Some of the most quantifiable and severe costs of this burden on families are adverse health outcomes.

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A Citizen-Based Social Contract

  • By
  • Michael Lind,
  • New America Foundation
July 20, 2007

Executive Summary

In the 20th century, Americans adopted a new "social contract" -- a support system to help provide every American with the basic security and goods considered necessary to enjoy a productive and enterprising life. Under a sound social contract, access to these goods should not depend on where you work, where you live, or what you believe. At its best, the American social contract is citizen-based.

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A Sustainable Health System for All Americans

  • By
  • Len Nichols,
  • New America Foundation
July 20, 2007

Executive Summary

America’s health care system fails to meet the standards set by its peers around the world. It delivers substandard patient care far too often, leaves tens of millions uninsured, and its rising cost growth threatens the foundations of our economy and society. Unless we move toward comprehensive, system-wide reform, we will continue to waste billions of dollars and thousands of lives every year in a health care system that is riddled with ineffi ciencies.

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