Social+Welfare+Policy

Power Points



This section focuses on social welfare policy. Broadly, this can refer to a large number of interelated policies which deal with the well being of the people of the nation including health, education and environmentalism, but we will stick to a more narrow meaning in order to keep thing simple. Social welfare policy refers to those policies designed to address poverty. This can mean policies that focus on alleviating the plight of the poor or provide means of getting people out of poverty.

Doing so - obviously - requires that we know a few things about the causes of poverty and the needs of the poor. But these are difficult to determine. It also requires that we have some consensus about the nature of poverty and what is to be done about it. And this can be even more difficult. But we'll give it a shot.

The material attached attempts to outline what we know - and think we know - about poverty, and walk through the history of social welfare policy beginning in feudal days in order to give us a point of comparison. We will walk through recent history and see how urbanization and the Great Depression impacted social welfare policy, and the state of welfare policy today. Hopefully this provides a degree of clarity about how these policies have been established over time and what changes we might see in the future.

Goals. After reading this material you should be able to address the following.

- What is the definition of social welfare policy? What are its goals and objectives? - What various policies fall under a broad meaning of social welfare? - What do "the welfare state" and "the social safety net" refer to? What controversies are associated with them? - What impact does political culture have on the social welfare programs a nation or state might choose to adopt? - What programs provide for the social welfare? - What controversies exist over the nature of poverty? How is this significant for the type of policies that might be adopted to address poverty? - Is there consesus that problems exist for poverty? What different types of poverty exist? - What is the difference between absolute and relative poverty? - How is absolute poverty measured in the United States? What is the poverty threshold and the poverty line? What criticisms are made about each? - What does the Constitution say about poverty and the collection of information related to it, or about poverty programs in general? - What disputes exist about the general welfare clause and the tax and spending clause? - What unique problems does relative poverty pose as opposed to absolute poverty? - Is income and wealth inequality a problem that has a clear solution? A non controversial one? What impact does inequality pose for politics? Is there consensus that this a problem that requires a governmental solution? What opinions exist about the causes of inequality? - How is inequality measured? Is there social mobility in the United States? What is the evidence yes or no? - Be able to explain the history of social welfare policy from the fuedal era to today. - What is the difference between outdoor and indoor relief? - What is the difference between the deserving and undeserving poor? Who is traditionally considered worthy of assestance and who is not? - What was public assistance like during the Elizabethan era? The Colonial Era? - How did urbanization complicate social welfare policy? What role did the Progressive Movement play in establishing public assistance programs on the national level? How about the social work profession? The Settlement House Movement? - What was the Great Depression a transformative event in the establishment of national welfare policies? - Be able describe key elements of the Social Security Act and how it changed over time. What did the Social Security Act establish? Be familiar with the controversies associated with each. How were these programs designed and implemented? - How were Great Society programs different from New Deal programs? - What controversies have led to some welfare programs being trimmed back?

Terminology. After reading this material you shodul be able to use the following terms and phrases intelligently.

- The Welfare State - Social Safety Net - Social Security - Medicare and Medicaid - Aid to Dependent Children - Unemployment Insurance - Categorical Grants - Block Grants - Poverty Threshold - Poverty Line - The Gini Coefficient - Income and Wealth Distribution - Mobility - Feudal Rights - Elizabethan Poor Laws - Deserving poor - Undeserving Poor - Able Bodied Poor - Indoor Relief - Ourdoot Relief - Pursuit of happiness - General welfare - Settlement Houses - Public Work Projects - The New Deal - Social Security Act - Old Age Insurance - Old Age Pensions - Dependent Children - Unemployment insurance - Helvering v. Davis - The War on Poverty - The Great Society - Medicare - Medicaid - Personal Responsibility abd Work Opportunity Act