Bücher von John Murphy

''This important and illuminating book provides a powerful and harrowing depiction of the inadequacies of the Australian welfare system. Its findings challenge the foundations and direction of the welfare reform agenda.'' - Professor Peter Saunders, University of New South Wales''This major new study challenges many myths about life on welfare and in low paid work. It should be read by anyone concerned with welfare reform.'' - Jane Millar, Professor of Social Policy, University of BathWhat is it really like to be unemployed and on welfare? How do you make ends meet? Does the welfare system actually help people get back into jobs?Half a Citizen draws on in-depth interviews with 150 welfare recipients to reveal people struggling to get by on a low income, the anxieties of balancing paid work with income support, and how unstable housing makes it difficult to get ahead.By investigating the lives beyond the statistics, Half a Citizen also explodes powerful myths and assumptions on which welfare policy is based. The majority of welfare recipients interviewed are very active, in paid work, caring for children or for other family members, and they see themselves as contributing and participating citizens, even if they sometimes feel they are being treated as ''half a citizen''. These stories of resilience and passion bear no resemblance to the clich d images of dependence, laziness, and social isolation which underpin social policy and media debate.

Early-20th-century Indianapolis was developing into a major transportation center. The extension of rail lines operated by the "Big Four Railroad," the Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis Railway, invaded farmland 5 miles southeast of the busy Indianapolis Union Station. By 1904, the native beech trees neighbored the construction of the Big Four Shops, a facility charged with the production of steam locomotives. The shops brought jobs, an immediate draw for commercial and residential development, culminating in 1906 when the unnamed, adjacent community incorporated as the town of Beech Grove. A century later, the city of Indianapolis has grown to entirely surround the vibrant community, yet Beech Grove retains its small town atmosphere. Anchored by a vibrant Main Street, the charm of Beech Grove is found within quiet residential neighborhoods, distinguished schools, diverse churches, and major employers, including Amtrak and St. Francis Hospital.

By 1813, in an area originally inhabited by Native Americans, including a significant Delaware Indian village located on White River's western banks, the future Greenwood was made safe for settlement by the Kentucky and Indiana militias. In 1818, with the New Purchase treaties and establishment of Whetzel Trace, the earliest east-west transportation route through central Indiana, the dense, overgrown forest became readied for settlement. Arising from humble beginnings as Smocktown, the community was officially named Greenfield in 1825, followed by renaming to Greenwood in 1833. The territory has seen tremendous growth through the decades since John B. and Isaac Smock arrived, transforming the land from a pioneer village into a contemporary hub of business and industry. Accused of being a "bedroom community" of Indianapolis, Greenwood strives to maintain its relevance as a unique and historically proud community.

By sketching a narrative up to and including the welfare state of the 1940s, this book highlights the halting way in which Australia's distinctive welfare regime was built, how key individuals and events were influential in its successes and failures and how its dilemmas are with us.