Children of Capital: The Political Origins of the Regulatory Welfare State

This workshop brings together scholars from sociology, political science, and history to discuss Elisabeth Anderson's book manuscript Children of Capital: The Political Origins of the Regulatory Welfare State. Laws regulating child labor in factories were the first attempt by European and US governments to intervene in the relationship between the new industrial bourgeoisie and the “free” labor it employed. Drawing on archival materials, published primary sources, and secondary historiography, Anderson argues that these laws, as well as the factory inspection systems later created to enforce them, were the product of elite institutional entrepreneurship. By theorizing the influence of individual reformers and the conditions under which they matter, Anderson develops a new micro-level interaction-centered perspective to studying welfare policy origin and change. Convened by

• Elisabeth Anderson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, NYUAD

Hosted by

• NYU Abu Dhabi Institute