Celebrating 250 Years of American Excellence

American individualism often treats freedom as the source of power to build one's own life. In this view, success reflects effort, talent, grit, and determination. If people work hard enough, they can get ahead. Rewards then seem morally deserved. In this way, individualism becomes a meritocratic ideal.

When success is seen as something people earn on their own, failure becomes easier to interpret as a lack of effort and poor choices. Importantly, this turns the public view of “need” into deservingness, not only into a question of who is suffering (Sandel, 2021). Survey evidence from the U.S. shows that many Americans attribute poverty to a lack of motivation and self-responsibility (Petersen, Slothuus, Stubager, & Togeby, 2011).

The pattern becomes institutionalized in America when need is interpreted through deservingness. Many public programs do not actively reach people. This can be seen in programs such as Medicaid and SNAP, where citizens must recognize their eligibility, understand the requirements, complete forms, and continually prove their eligibility.

This administrative burden reflects a deeper institutional logic: need is not something the state should actively detect and absorb hardship. On the contrary, individuals must take responsibility and reach out to the state (Herd, Hoynes, Michener, & Moynihan, 2023). Baekgaard, Moynihan, and Thomsen (2021) find that policymakers are less willing to impose burdens on a group they think is more deserving, meaning that burdens or screening processes become easier to justify when that group is viewed as less deserving.

Together, these findings suggest that public support shifts away from automatic provision toward a targeted system shaped by deservingness. Access is therefore filtered through administrative burden rather than secured by need alone.

To this end, this administrative design creates a political feedback loop that reinforces the vicious cycle. The groups that the state sees as deserving or entitled often receive welfare administration with less friction and less disrespect. For stigmatized or needy groups, the state often imposes burdens on learning, compliance, and psychological well-being (Herd & Moynihan, 2025).

Over time, this unequal treatment shapes who remains able and willing to engage in civic and political life. People who receive generous support with low burdens are more likely to trust, participate, and voice their opinions. By contrast, people who are forced to carry administrative burdens are more likely to feel powerless and disengaged (Herd & Moynihan, 2018).

As a result, there is inequality not only in the distribution of social welfare, but also in unequal influence over public policy. In this democratic institution, the state empowers those whom it seems to regard as deserving, while disregarding the political capacity of those who need help.

References

Sandel, M. J. (2021). The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? Picador.

Petersen, M., Slothuus, R., Stubager, R., & Togeby, L. (2011). Deservingness versus values in public opinion on welfare: The automaticity of the deservingness heuristic. European Journal of Political Research, 50(1), 24–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2010.01923.x

Herd, P., Hoynes, H., Michener, J., & Moynihan, D. (2023). Introduction: Administrative burden as a mechanism of inequality in policy implementation. The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2023.9.5.01

Herd, P., & Moynihan, D. (2025). Administrative burdens in the social safety net. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 39(1), 129–150. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.20231394

Herd, P., & Moynihan, D. (2018). Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means. University of Chicago Press.