Quiz
Be able to identify what in-kind benefits are.
(provided as proxies for cash) include such benefits such as food stamps; Medicaid; housing vouchers; Women, infants, and children (WIC) coupons; and low-income energy assistance. Personal social services are designed to enhance relationships between people as well as institutions, such as individual, family, and mental health treatment child welfare services; rehabilitation counseling and so forth. Although complicated, this classification reflects a common theme - the redistribution of resources from the better-off to the more disadvantaged. This distributional aspect of social welfare policy is generally accepted by those who view social welfare as a legitimate function of the state. Governmental social welfare policy is often referred to as "public" policy because it is the result of decisions reached through a legislative process intended to represent the entire population.
Be able to state the function of social welfare.
1. serve as a safety net 2. often develops because of social problems 3. it contributes to the maintenance and survival of society 4. help to enforce social control (prediction of a revolt) 5. Help to subsidize the private employer sector (pay minimum wage, no need for wage increase, no need to provide insurance) 6. help support industry (health care, agriculture (food stamps - dont have jobs out of season), construction of public housing) 7. help with economic transitions (TANF, unemployment benefits) 8. help to rectify social injustices (affirmative action, federal financial aid)
Make sure you know who Jane Addams was and her contributions.
Book: Jane Addams was one of the nation's most respected social workers. Supported the Progressive Movement. It reflected a unique blend of social reform encompassing anti-big business attitudes, a belief that government should regulate the public good, a strong emphasis on ethics in business and personal life, a commitment to social justice, a concern for the "Common man", and a strong sense of paternalism. Had to protect those that were vulnerable. In 1889, Jane Addams established Hull House to serve residents of the Chicago community in which she lived. Internet: as a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace. Beside presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, she was the most prominent reformer of the Progressive Era and helped turn the nation to issues of concern to mothers, such as the needs of children, public health, and world peace. She said that if women were to be responsible for cleaning up their communities and making them better places to live, they needed the vote to be effective in doing so. Addams became a role model for middle-class women who volunteered to uplift their communities
Be able to identify the various political factions we discussed and their ideologies.
Conservatism: Ideology that emphasizes a market economy and private industry to meet human social welfare needs. Collectively most agree on being: anti-union; oppose government regulations; lower taxes and less spending; local control of public education; oppose civil rights -Classical Conservatism: keep everything as ins, separation of church and state, equality is not important -Neo-Conservatism: puts the blame on the government, oppose abortion and homosexuality -Cultural Conservatism: focus on family and social issues, preserve nuclear family Liberals: In general believe in big government, government to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all, it is the duty of the government to alleviate social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights -Classical Liberalism: big government and big spending, want rights to come from government, abolishment of segregation, health care, taxes and government intervention -Neo-Liberalism: Should work for benefits, public and individual responsibility.
Be able to elucidate what are means-tested social welfare programs.
Eligibility established by demonstrating need, according to government-mandated criteria; this type of school welfare program (e.g. SSI or TANF) accounts for 13% of all expenditures
Be able to recognize the amount and percent of public funds given to congregations as a result of Charitable Choice.
Even though more than half of all congregations provide some type of social service, primarily emergency food and shelter, only three percent receive public funds.
Make sure you know the role of Charity Organization Societies.
First evident in the 1870s, Charity Organization Societies had offices in most American Cities by 1900. With the exception of meager state-sponsored indoor and outdoor relief, the COS movement was the major provider of care to the destitute. COSs varied in their structures and methods. In general, they coordinated relief giving by operating community-wide registration bureaus, providing direct relief, and "education" both the upper and lower classes as to their mutual obligations. The work of the COSs was carried out by a committee of volunteers and agency representatives who examined "cases: of needy applicants and decided on a course of action. The agent of the COS was the "friendly visitor," whose task was to conduct an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the cases and to instruct the poor in ways of better managing their lives. Friendly visitors, drawn from the upper classes, often held a morally superior attitude towards their clientele, and their intervention in the lives of the poor was interpreted by some observers as a form of social control as well as a means of providing assistance. In any case, the charity provided by these organizations was often less than generous. Leaders of the movement drew an important lesson from SocialDarwinism and the Protestant work ethic in believing that beneficent charity was counterproductive because it contributed to sloth and dependency. Josephine Shaw Lowell, president of the New York Charity Organization Society, believed that charity should be dispensed "only when starvation was imminent." To be sure, it was difficult for friendly visitors to maintain a sense of Christian duty in the midst of immoral behavior. In such instances, when some wretched soul seemed beyond instruction and charity, more radical measures were in order.
Be able to identify the American economic continuum.
In large measure, economics forms the background of the political system. For example, we would not have the modern welfare state state without the contributions of economist John Maynard Keynes. Conversely, we would not have the conservative movement without the contributions of classical or free market economists such as Adam Smith or Milton Friedman. Virtually every political movement is somehow grounded in economic thought. The three major schools of economics that have traditionally dominated American economic thought are Keynesian economics; classical or free market economics (and its variants); and, to a lesser degree, democratic socialism.
Be able to articulate the beliefs of most of the conservatives in relation to social welfare policies.
Most conservatives agree that social welfare programming: 1. Erodes the US work ethic (not working to access government benefits) 2. Diverts tax revenue that could be in the private sector (tax less (cut) to invest in jobs (Most hiring: private-government public-wal-mart)) 3. Perpetuates co-dependency on government that undermines a free market society (Why make more money if you are going to to get taxed more) 4. Lessons the profits and global competitiveness of corporations (taking company to another country because of tax break)
Be able to pinpoint the objective of Conservatives and Liberals in relation to policy advocacy.
Policy advocacy is defined as active, covert, or inadvertent support of a particular policy or class of policies. Conservatives are against it and Liberals are for it.
Be able to recognize and explain the job functions of a policy analyst.
Policy analysts engage in the systematic investigation of a social policy or a set of policies. They are employed in a variety of settings, including federal, state, and local governments; think tanks; universities; social justice or public interest groups or community organization; and larger social agencies. The goals of policy analysis can range from pure research to providing information to legislators (i.e., congressional research) and to advocacy research. Use Policy framework - a systematic model for examining a specific social welfare policy or a series of policies - is one means analyst use to evaluate the congruence of a policy with the mission and goals of the social welfare state. Analysts can also employ policy frameworks to assess whether key social welfare values - that is, social justice, redistribution, or equity - are incorporated within a give policy. Also useful in environmental scanning activities of non- and for-profit agencies. Policy analysts are expected to evaluate a policy and make recommendations. To succeed, the analyst must acknowledge his or her own values while, at the same time, basing the analysis on objective criteria. 1. historical background of the policy 2. problems that necessitate the policy 3. policy description 4. policy analysis (policy goals, political / economic / administrative feasibility) Look closely at efficiency, or the cost - effectiveness of the proposed policy compared to alternative policies, no policy, or the present policy.
Be able to explicate what term "politics" means.
Politics is the art or science of influencing people's beliefs on a civic, or individual level, when there are more than 2 people involved. Modern political discourse focuses on democracy and the relationship between people and politics. The activities associated with the governance of a country or area. The activities of governments concerning the political relations between countries.
Be able to describe supply side economics.
Popular during the early 1980s. Lead by Robert Barth, editorial page head of the wall street journal, supply-siders were journalists, policymakers, and maverick economists who argued that demand-side policies and monetary policies were ineffective. They maintained that the incentive effects of reduced taxation would be so large that tax cuts would dramatically increase economic activity to the point where tax revenues would rise rather than fall. Specifically, supply-siders argued that tax cuts would lead to a large increase in labor supply and investment and therefore to a large expansion in economic output. The budged deficit would not be problematic because taxes, increased savings, and higher economic output would offset the deficit. In early 1980s, supply-sided seized power from the Keynesians and mainstreamed conservative economics, many who believed in the same things but wanted to move more slowly. A school of political-economy that proposed reduction in social programs so that tax dollars can be reinvested in the private sector to capitalize economic growth.
Be able to explicate the War on Poverty.
Poverty was at 19% Economic Opportunity Act Social Security Act Lyndon B. Johnson: declared "War on Poverty" in his state of the union address on January 8, 1964. Over 1,000 pieces of legislation were passed as part of Johnson's Great Society including the Civil Right's Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. White churchmen continued to lag behind the waves of social change, and social workers ere among those who stepped forward to lead. For example, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Wilbur Cohen, played a major role in the passage of the Medicare and Medicaid Acts of 1965, only two of his 65 innovations in social welfare policy. Even though the Vietnam War was to provide fatal distraction, Johnson's War on Poverty and Great Society had some success. By 1969 the number of Americans living below the poverty line had fallen by more than half.
Be able to explain what economic sectors contribute to social welfare policy.
Public and non-private
Be able to identify the various sectors that deliver social welfare programs.
Public, private non-profit, profit agencies
Make sure you understand what mechanism is put into place to meet people's basic life needs.
Social Welfare Policy: Publicly financed and administered programs designed to meet basic needs inadequately met through the market system.
Be able to explain how we respond to social problems.
Social welfare policy often develops in response to social problems. We have: 1. Policies: goals, means and principles pursued by institutions, whether private or public. 2. Social Policies: synonymous for social welfare policy, but really a misnomer since the former is for more of domestic issues, i.e., education (broad, doesn't reflect what the people are doing) 3. Social Welfare issues: Subset of social policies in particular programs, regulations deliberated to satisfy individual and familial needs inadequately met through the market system (individual needs: food, shelter, clothing)
Be able to explain what type of relationship is shared between social problems and social welfare policy.
Social welfare policy often develops in the response to social problems. The relationship between social problems and social welfare policy is not linear, and not all social problems result in social welfare policies. In many instances, existing social welfare policies are funded at ineffectual levels For example, the child abuse prevention and treatment act of 1974 was designed to ameliorate the problem of child abuse, yet under-budgeting left child protective services (CPS) workers in a catch-22 situation. The act required CPS workers to promptly investigate child abuse reports, but agencies had inadequate staff resources to deal with the skyrocketing number of complaints. Caught in a resources crunch, many CPS workers were unable to properly investigate allegations of abuse, resulting in many children dying or undergoing serious injury.
Make sure you know the role of social workers with regard to the New Deal.
Social workers and others with tenancy experience in a settlement house stepped to the forefront to provide the moral leadership previously provided by religion. Edith Abbott, president of the National Conference of Social Wolfare and Dean of the University of CHicago School of Social Service Administration, participated in the drafting of the Social Security Act.
Be able to understand the role of faith-based organizations in relation to social welfare.
They view their work as a responsibility to god. God commanded work, America provided opportunity, and economic success became a sign of divine favor. It was thought that in order to reclaim providence the poor must be taught to live a moral and self-disciplined life. While early religious social workers clung tenaciously to their desire to teach the moral life, they also understood the need to provide material assistance. The major emphasis of the early social worker, however, was more often on spiritual guidance than on material aid.
Be able to explain the political views of Libertarians.
This school of thought believes in virtually no government regulation. Argue that governmental growth occurs at the expense of individual freedom. They also believe that the proper role for government is to provide a police force and a military that possesses only defensive weapons. Libertarians are highly critical of taxation because it fuels governmental growth. Apart from advocating minimal taxation earmarked for defense and police activities, they opposed the income tax. Because liberatarians emphasize individual freedom and personal responsibility, they advocate the decriminalization or narcotics and believe that government should intercede in social affairs only when an individual's behavior threatens the safety of another. A small but influential group that advocates more individual responsibility and a very limited role for government in social and economic affairs.
Make sure you understand what was the New Deal.
Under FDR The programs were in response to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform. That is, Relief for the unemployed and poor; Recovery of the economy to normal levels; and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression book: Advocates of liberalism have argued for advancing the public good by promoting an expanding economy coupled with the growth of universal, non-means-tested social welfare and health programs. Billions and billions were spent on relief efforts to provide food, clothing, and shelter. Included a national old-age retirement system, federal grants to states for maternal child, and disabled welfare services; and a ferderal-state unemployment system. Strongly supported by the Roman Catholic Church. Harry Hopkins is credited as the primary architect of the new deal. Neoliberals found this too expensive
Be able to explain what shapes social welfare policies.
We must recognize that policy is influenced by one's values and ideology. SWP are shaped by a set of social and personal values that reflect the preferences of those in decision making capacities. Ideology refers to the framework of commonly held beliefs through which we view the world. Ideology trends held by a majority influence and dominate SWPs. (Family, friends, school) Values: those things that really matter to each of us... the ideas and beliefs we hold as special, which contribute to your happiness and well-being. Values operate as self-motivating principles that guide behaviors, or ideas about what is desirable or acceptable.
Make sure you can determine what political and economic rights are authorized by the U.S. Constitution.
political freedom: the right to participate freely in the political process, choose and remove public officials, to be governed under a rule of law; the right to a free flow of information and ideas, open debate and right of assembly economic freedom: the right to acquire, use, transfer and dispose of private property without unreasonable governmental interference; the right to seek employment wherever one pleases; to change employment at will; and to engage in any lawful economic activity.
