Abstract:

Throughout history, economies faced crisis conditions. Some of these crises were local and their effects were felt in a limited geography, and some have affected the economies on a global scale. Great Depression, which began in October 1929 with the Wall Street Crash in the United States, not only had devastating effects on the United States economy, but it gave way to a global economic downturn. In the United States, many companies have gone bankrupt, unemployment and homelessness have increased, giving way to a wave of social unrest. Franklin D. Roosevelt who has come to power in the aftermath of the crisis declared that he would put new economic and social policy measures into place. The economic recovery program was called the “New Deal”. With this program, a broader basis for social policy measures was created, and expansionary economic policies were put into effect, to restore production and create employment. It can be claimed that American social policy which had distinguished from Western countries before Roosevelt era in terms of content, had become closer to the Western countries’ practices during the Roosevelt era. In this paper, this change and the impact of the Great Depression on American social policy will be discussed.

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