A Policy Icon: Irwin Garfinkel
Some societies have measured wealth and status by the number of offspring or protégés one has. By this measure, Dr. Irwin Garfinkel, the Mitchell I. Ginsberg Professor of Contemporary Urban Problems, would be regarded as a wealthy man.
Dr. Garfinkel—Irv to his colleagues— has taught and mentored many of the leading social policy scholars in the world. These include Jared Bernstein, chief economist for Vice President Joe Biden; Daniel R. Meyer, professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison; Qin Gao, associate professor at Fordham University; and Shinichi Okada, associate professor at Osaka City University in Japan.
Dr. Garfinkel’s prolific work draws on his multidisciplinary background in social work, economics, and demography. Most recently, he was one of four CUSSW faculty inducted into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
Dr. Garfinkel’s most recent book is Wealth and Welfare States: Is America a Laggard or Leader? (Oxford University Press, 2010), coauthored with leading policy scholars Lee Rainwater and Timothy Smeeding. That work led to an invitation to deliver the 25th annual Richard Tit-muss Memorial Lecture at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at Hebrew University in Jerusalem last May.
Wealth and Welfare States compares the American social welfare system to that of other nations and examines what Dr. Garfinkel deems “half-truths and nonsense” about the welfare state, including the idea that the United States has always been a welfare state laggard.
“We were the leader in the provision of mass public education for most of our history,” says Dr. Garfinkel, who stresses the importance of “getting the story straight” and says the United States is losing its lead. “Other rich nations, and even developing nations, have caught up or are surpassing us. We’ve got cause for concern.”
Dr. Garfinkel and his wife, Dr. Sara McLanahan, the William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, are co-principal investigators of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. That groundbreaking study, which focuses on disadvantaged families with low-income fathers, was conceived in collaboration with Professor Ronald Mincy, the School’s Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice.
In addition to his diverse research interests and public speaking engagements, Dr. Garfinkel is the consummate teacher, making his CUSSW students a top priority. In 2005, Professor Garfinkel was the first CUSSW faculty member to receive the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Mentoring Award. “For me that was a wonderful award,” says Dr. Garfinkel. “I have five children, and I have dozens of intellectual offspring, whom I now regard to be valued colleagues. They are the great delights of my life and make me confident of the future.”
“ I have dozens of intellectual offspring, whom I now regard to be valued colleagues. They are the great delights of my life and make me confident of the future.”