Chapter 2: The History and Evolution of Social Welfare Policy

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

A U.S. federal stature signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Also referred to as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or colloquially Obamacare. Considered a significant overhaul of the U.S, healthcare system, with the goals of increasing the quality and affordability of health insurance, and reducing the costs of health care for individuals and the government.

Social Diagnosis

A concept created by Mary Richmond, an early COS leader, involving the search for the cause of poverty by examining the interaction between the poor and their environment.

Social Darwinism

A concept referring to the application of the biological principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest to the social and political realms.

Charity Organization Society

A movement in the late 1800s that had as its goal the organization and centralizing of poor relief, based on the belief that outdoor relief created dependency, and that the poor were better helped through the diagnosis of the causes of poverty by friendly visitors, and the development of a case plan that focused on behavioral reform. The approach of this movement is considered the origin of case management.

Welfare Queen

A pejorative phrase used in the United States to refer to people, usually women of color, who are accused of fraudulently collecting welfare benefits because they do not want to work. Most historians and social policy experts now deem the welfare queen a myth created and used by politicians to manipulate the public into supporting reductions in social welfare spending.

Cycle of Poverty

A phenomenon where poor families remain impoverished because they have no ancestors who can transmit the intellectual, social, and cultural resources necessary to lift them out of poverty.

Settlement House Movement

A reformist social movement (1880-1920) initiated in England and then the United States that established interdependent communities of middle class and poor (especially immigrants) with the goal of creating community through the sharing knowledge and culture in order to alleviate poverty and social exclusion. The settlement houses provided advocacy, child care, housing, and classes.

New Deal Programs

A series of domestic programs enacted by Congress and executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal programs focused on the 3 Rs: Relief, Recovery, and Reform.

Christian Right

A social and political movement espousing traditional values and a return to "traditional America", composed of a number of groups from various conservative Christian denominations, most principally evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Also referred to as the conservative right and the hard right.

Survival of the Fittest

A term coined by Herbert Spencer, a British philosopher, referring to the application of the biological principles of natural selection to the social world. Survival of the fittest implies that only the stronger members of society are destined to survive, thus charity and other means to intervene in the natural order will only serve to weaken society.

Protestant Work Ethic

A term originally coined by Max Weber emphasizing that hard work and frugality are a result of a person's status of salvation in the Protestant faith, particularly in Calvinism (also referred to as the Puritan work ethic).

Aid to Families with Dependent Children

An entitlement program passed as part of the Social Security Act of 1935 that provided economic assistance to mothers and their children. AFDC was replaced with the passage of PRWORA 1996 and TANF.

Sweatshop Conditions

Any working environment, but particularly factories, that does not employ labor laws and compels workers to work in harsh conditions, such as long hours, unsafe working conditions, and perhaps even emotional and physical abuse.

Neoliberal Philosophies

Political philosophies that support laissez-faire economic liberalism, including privatization, deregulation, free trade, and smaller government. There is considerable debate surrounding whether neoliberalism benefits all members of society or principally the more wealthy. The term has its origins in 1930s Europe but experienced a resurgence in the 1980s to reflect a more radical form of capitalism that advocates for a significant reduction in government involvement.

Tudor Poor Laws

Poor relief laws in England during the Tudor period (1485-1603). These laws were replaced with the passage of the Elizabethan poor laws of 1601.

Outdoor Relief

Social welfare assistance under England's poor laws and later America's early social welfare system, consisting of money, food, clothing, or goods without a requirement that the recipient enter an institution.

Indoor Relief

Social welfare assistance under England's poor laws and later America's early social welfare system, consisting of recipients being required to enter a workhouse or poorhouse. Indoor relief was typically reserved for those deemed the unworthy poor.

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act

Social welfare legislation passed in 1996 that ended the former entitlement social welfare program, ushering in a welfare-to-work philosophy.

Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1601

The Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601, popularly known as the Elizabethan Poor Law, was a collection of laws passed in 1601 creating a national poor law system for England and Wales. This legislation effectively formalized previous poor relief legislation and policies.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The official U.S. policy on service by gays and lesbians in the military. DADT was instituted by President Bill Clinton on February 28, 1994, in response to an attempt to lessen the punitive measures taken when a member of the military was determined to be gay or lesbian. DADT ended on September 20, 2011.

Great Society Programs

The poverty alleviation programs that were developed in response to President Lyndon B. Johnson's war on poverty legislation.

Feudalism

The primary system structure in medieval Europe, where the nobility controlled the monarchy's land in exchange for military service, while the peasants or serfs worked the land in exchange for housing, a share of the produce, and protection.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

The public assistance program in the United States that replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The social welfare program developed in response to PRWORA of 1996 legislation.

War on Poverty

The unofficial name for legislation introduced by President Lyndon B. Johnson during his state of the union address on January 8, 1964, in response to an unprecedentedly high national poverty rate.

The Worthy and Unworthy Poor

Under England's earliest poor laws the poor were categorized as either worthy or unworthy. Worthy poor included those dependent persons who were poor through no fault of their own- principally, orphans, widows, the handicapped, and older adults were considered the worthy poor. Dependent persons who were perceived as having caused their own poverty- principally those who were lazy, drunkards, lazy and immoral, and refused to work, were considered the unworthy poor. Many social welfare experts believe that elements of these sentiments remain in contemporary social welfare policy.

Friendly Visitors

Volunteers working for a charity organization society who visited clients to assess the nature of their problems and offer support and guidance.