Questions of Worthiness and Value
The Townsend Plan and the Social Security Act marked very clear and public value judgements of America’s aging populations. For example, pamphlets outlining the Townsend Plan were distributed publicly, and once passed, posters described measures of eligibility for the Social Security Act. This assessment of “worthiness” of the elderly was reflected financially in debates over how much money would be put toward benefits (as seen in the cartoons below) and to whom financial aid would be given.
Even without distinguishing between various proposals, propositions such as the Townsend Plan and the Social Security Act inherently reflect societal values at the time of their creation. The creation of a Social Security-type plan in the first place may demonstrate a value for aging populations and a desire by younger generations to support older generations (Bergmann, 2000). Additionally, one of the reasons propositions such as the Townsend Plan and the Social Security Act were created and are supported today is to help elderly avoid severe financial struggle and dependence, which suggests that maintaining independence, especially in aging, is a central value (Bergmann, 2000).
In terms of financial “worthiness,” the Social Security Act of 1935 differentiated between industries, as seen in the exclusion of agricultural and domestic service workers from benefits. While these limitations may have been necessary to promote economic feasibility, make the act administratively practical, and get the act passed, the decisions regarding which occupations were excluded had significant racial and gender implications. Agricultural and domestic workers are disproportionately minority and women workers, and thus racial and gender biases are considered as potential motivators for the differentiation between occupations in the Social Security Act (see Division by Occupation and Racial Implications of Social Security Act) (Stoesz, 2016).
The Townsend Plan appears to present a different set of value judgements. The plan’s broad standards for eligibility meant that proposed benefits were not dependent on previous work experience or income, and thus did not differentiate or discriminate in the same ways as the Social Security Act. However, the Townsend Plan was never realized, and thus did not have to make the same decisions regarding cutbacks that the Social Security Act had to make in order to be passed (see Debates Over Feasibility and Stress on Intergenerational Relations).