Book Review

A long-standing narrative within twentieth-century U.S. political history recounts the expansion of democracy and citizenship rights from woman suffrage in 1920 through New Deal economic security measures in the 1930s and civil rights movements from the 1940s to the present. The gains did not arise from a benevolent government but resulted from hard-won efforts by political insiders and social movements. Troubling to this story of democracy's success is the related pattern of steady decline in citizens' participation in political and civic life. What would explain Americans' weaker interest in political and civic life at the same time that their access grew stronger? Suzanne Mettler answers this question by challenging the assumption of universal rights of citizenship and arguing that the political institutions of federalism created a system of dual citizenship.	1
Dividing Citizens explores the topic using a state-centered perspective. The ideas and actions of political actors cannot explain the trajectory of U.S. citizenship without situating them within political-institutional structures. Political systems, state structures, and policy precedents greatly influence policy outcomes. These governing systems incorporate racial and gendered ideologies into policies and organize the individual's experiences of citizenship. Mettler explores the interactions between political actors and political institutions to demonstrate the process by which the differentiation occurs. Rather than universal rights and obligations, the U.S. system of federalism as well as other elements of "structured governance" (4) embedded constructions of gender and race into public policies and created two forms of citizenship, one existing at the federal level and one at the level of states.	2
Mettler uses labor and social policies passed during the New Deal to make her case. These policies offer a solid test for her thesis because New Deal programs sought to provide a measure of economic security for workers in the modern industrial economy. In so doing, they would extend the benefits of social citizenship to more Americans. The study examines the National Labor Relations Act (1935) that gave labor the right to organize and bargain collectively; the safety-net programs of the Social Security Act (1935), including unemployment insurance, old age assistance, and aid to dependent children; and the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) that created federal regulations for hours and wages legislation. Each set of policies receives substantial discussion in two chapters: the first discusses its formation and the second assesses its implementation.	3
Readers familiar with the literature on gender and states will not be surprised at the idea that citizenship is socially constructed or that it sets different standards and status for groups. However, Mettler uses this familiar concept to make the larger point about the gendered characteristics of state and federal citizenship. The latter evolved from a liberal interpretation of political rights, emphasized the individual, and had guarantees at the federal level. Other beneficiaries of New Deal distributive programs (she focuses on gender but notes that race follows a similar trajectory) received benefits controlled by states that were subject to variations in treatment, discretionary privileges, and other problems associated with localism. For example, New Deal policies secured at the federal level, such as Old Age and Survivors' Insurance, served citizens more equitably than policies that operated at the state level, such as Aid to Dependent Children and unemployment insurance. The New Deal expanded the powers of the federal government in the areas of economic security, but it also reinforced inequitable distribution of resources and added to the tension between the authority of states and the authority of the federal government. What became of political inclusivity at the heart of New Deal social and labor policies? Political institutions, Mettler argues, cut short the idealism of expanded democracy and social citizenship. Policymakers responded to the politically mobilized unemployed male worker. State's rights advocates retained the balance of power in the categorical aid programs. The promises of universal social citizenship failed to materialize during the 1940s because of conflicting policy agendas within federal bureaus, the regional split between Democrats, and the shift in Roosevelt's attention to the war (219). Even if states wanted to move ahead on progressive agendas, the structure of state operations presented obstacles such as outmoded methods of apportionment, prohibitions on policy innovation in state constitutions, and the persistence of patronage systems that blocked merit hiring. These preexisting political and bureaucratic arrangements provided states "multiple opportunities" (220) to displace national intentions.	4
Mettler's analysis of the political and institutional aspects of New Deal public policy adds a useful perspective to studies of gender and the welfare state. There are aspects that could have received more attention from this very detailed study, such as the ways in which citizenship differentiated by race or the ways in which her thesis challenges or supports the vast array of literature on gender and welfare states. On the issue of distinct forms of citizenship based on the sex-gender system, some acknowledgment of the historical status of women as "other" would have been useful. Of greater significance to the author's thesis is the assumption that New Deal policymakers embraced the goals of social citizenship. The opposite case could easily be made that legislators and policymakers alike disagreed strongly on using the government in this capacity and passed only politically feasible programs. None of these criticisms should override what is otherwise a fascinating, Finely detailed piece of research written in an accessible style for specialists and generalists alike.	5
Joanne L. Goodwin University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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