Social Welfare Policy

Author(s):  
Mark Carl Rom

This article examines social welfare policies and policymaking, which concern programs that either redistribute income or provide services to individuals to improve the quality of their lives. The author explains major social welfare policy areas, their history, and their content. The article then explores the politics of policymaking in this policy area, with particular attention to the roles of institutions, federalism, and reform, as well as the politics of policy implementation and the important role of race in this policy area. Avenues for future research are discussed.

Author(s):  
Joel Blau

This chapter examines the main themes in social welfare policy. These themes include the assumption that poor people are responsible for their own poverty; a belief in the marketplace as the best means of addressing human needs; and a consequent wariness of federal social welfare interventions. Analyzing social welfare policy’s multiple and conflicting roles, it then traces these themes as they have manifested themselves throughout U.S. history. The chapter concludes by contending that while these historical factors may have all contributed to less comprehensive social welfare policies, their inadequacies effectively reopen the issue of what social welfare should become in the twenty-first century, when neoliberalism and rising income inequality have heightened the fears of so many Americans about their declining standard of living.


Author(s):  
Michael D. Minta

This chapter examines the advocacy efforts of members of Congress for policies designed to help poor people. It investigates whether the differences that exist between black, Latino, and white legislators in racial and ethnic hearings also occur in social welfare hearings. It examine legislators' interventions in committee deliberations during part of the Clinton era (1993–1997) and the first term of the George W. Bush presidency (2001–2003). It focuses on how actively legislators engaged in the deliberations in terms of questioning witnesses and interacting with fellow members of Congress. It also examines other legislative interventions, such as testifying at hearings in favor of social welfare policies that benefit the poor and requesting hearings designed to help poor people, who are disproportionately minorities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 678-684
Author(s):  
Mareks Niklass

This study seeks to find out how social welfare policy preferences have changed over time and what factors account for those preferences in Latvia. The author analyses ISSP survey data gathered in 1996, 2007 and 2016. The data analysis shows that most Latvians still support government interventions in providing social welfare. However, economic factors like material wellbeing and self-interest have decreased the overall support for social welfare policies during the last 20 years. The article provides a long-term perspective missing in previous studies on social welfare policy preferences in Eastern Europe.


The chapter explores the origin of social welfare policies in welfare states in Western democratic countries. It traces the state of poverty in most Western democracies before the Great Depression of 1930s, and states' interventions with welfare social assistance programs previously handled by communities, churches, and charitable organizations. The chapter, therefore, examines the historical context of social welfare policy, the nature of the welfare state regime, modern welfare state approaches to social welfare policy, and the market and global economies and the welfare state.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Stan Bowie

This research empirically assessed the learning outcomes of structured debates in an undergraduate social welfare policy course. The longitudinal mixed-method study represents the only one in the literature on social policy debates in undergraduate social work education. For the five cohorts of students surveyed, the Policy Debate Rating Scale assessed learning outcomes on cognitive, behavioral/affective, and comparative perspective dimensions. The results showed strong evidence of higher level learning and supports the use of active learning to promote critical thinking, public speaking, and policy practice skills among social workers. Implications for future policy practice such as the need for more instruction on dialectics, differential perspectives, and improved designs for future research are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horman Chitonge ◽  
Ntombifikile Mazibuko

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