Customer Reviews:
 Policy differences with a history April 15, 2007
Paul Callsen (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
James Russell's recent book, Double Standard, explores the many and considerable differences in public policies that one finds when comparing those of the United Sates with those of European countries. Dr. Russell traces the development of social, economic and political thought that brings each side of this comparison to the place where we find them today thereby placing current policy in its proper historic context.
This concise overview of historic thought would provide an undergraduate student the broad understanding required to grasp the full importance of the policy comparison and, therefore, makes the book an excellent choice as a text for studies in sociology, economics and political science.
Double Standard clearly demonstrates that the policy differences found between the U.S. and Europe did not originate with the divergence of foreign policy relating to the Middle East.
eye-opening book November 16, 2006
Computer Maven (Cambridge, MA.)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
James W. Russell's tools are clear writing, tight argumentation, and impecabble logic. He uses them to calmly and surgically dismantle the myth of American superiority as he explains how and why Americans receive far fewer social welfare benefits than their European counterparts. A real eye-opener.
The Best Follow-up to "Sicko" July 20, 2007
Jerry L. Lembcke (Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA)
Double Standard is the perfect complement to Michael Moore's film Sicko. Its author, sociology professor James W. Russell, provides the scholarly back-story to the film's claims that it is not variations in the functioning of market economics that gives Europeans better health care, more time off from work, and greater social equality, but rather the social policies rendered by their governments. Russell covers historical ground from the enlightenment to the present, institutional influences from church to state, and policy outcomes across the life-course from childhood to retirement. The book is well researched and documented, an easily read eye-opener for students and interested adults, and a handbook for the desk of every pundit and policy maker.
 Double Standard-timely treatment of Europe vs. US policies November 18, 2006
Andrew Young (Oakland, CA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a timely book that compares social policy in European nations with that in the United States. It offers a concise comparison of a number of specific programs, such as health care, education, family support, and income security, showing how citizens of European nations enjoy social support and benefits far beyond those available to many Americans. Double Standard also discusses contrasting historic and philosophical backgrounds to examine why there is a broad consensus across Europe that government has a responsibility to provide extensive economic and social support for all citizens while in the United States the role of government is challenged and curtailed. Double Standard suggests that European social policies provide a higher standard of living than that now maintained by many in the United States. It presents sharp contrasts between Europe and the United States in such indicators of social well being as rates of poverty and incarceration, educational levels, and income distribution.
The author in the end argues that European social policies are based upon a national sense of inclusion and the common good, that they promote such democratic principles as egalitarianism and active participation in civic life, and that they provide a model that the United States would do well to follow. Double Standard provides important information and arguments that should enter into our continuing debate over the role of government and appropriate levels of services that it should provide in the United States
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