A PREFATORY NOTEA PREFATORY NOTE IDEALISMIDEALISM• Ideas are to be Ideas are to be

considered on their own considered on their own merit and not as merit and not as derivative of prior derivative of prior conditions. conditions.

• What we believe What we believe basically reflects the basically reflects the advance of progress and advance of progress and reason, and so does not reason, and so does not have “hidden” have “hidden”

preferents.preferents.

MATERIALISMMATERIALISM• Ideas reflect the material Ideas reflect the material

(economic) conditions in (economic) conditions in which they were formedwhich they were formed

• Our ideas about who we Our ideas about who we are, what is right and are, what is right and wrong, true and false---wrong, true and false---all directly or indirectly all directly or indirectly reflect these reflect these circumstances, but we circumstances, but we are generally unaware of are generally unaware of

the connectionthe connection

Social Welfare Policy (Adults)Social Welfare Policy (Adults)

A POWER POINT PRESENTATIONFEATURING THE LATEST

IN TECHNOLOGICAL WIZARDRYAND PEDAGOGICAL LEDGERDEMAIN

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SSW GRAD STUDENT TERMINATION

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Module I: The Basics of Social Welfare Policy Module I: The Basics of Social Welfare Policy

• What is social welfare policysocial welfare policy (swp)? More particularly, what are its origins, dimensions, and origins, dimensions, and typestypes?? Why is it important for social workers to know about it?

• What is the welfare statewelfare state (ws)? How does the US ws differ from its European counterpart?

• Why has the ws declined in declined in recent years?recent years?

• Why Why is politics politics the key to understanding ws developments? Who supports/opposessupports/opposes the ws & why?

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Social Welfare Policies (1Social Welfare Policies (1))

• Public programs designed to meet basic social needsbasic social needs inadequately met through the market system.

• Program eligibility determined by citizenship and/or citizenship and/or “means” criteria. “means” criteria.

• Contents determined via the legislative processlegislative process, as mediated by values, interests, and “clout” of the contending political actors and their supporters.

Why Study Social Welfare Policy? (1)Why Study Social Welfare Policy? (1)

• BecauseBecause:• It is the “social” in social work; it does much to shape the social

environment in which people live.

• Social welfare policy both reflects and helps to define the type of society we live in. (E.g. US vs. Canada)

• American politics is largely about what should be the extent and types of swps adopted at various levels of government.

• The NASW code requires that social justice, and hence social welfare policy, be a key feature of social work education.

Why Study Social Welfare Policy? (2)Why Study Social Welfare Policy? (2)

AS ADVOCATES, OPPONENTS, OR IMPLEMENTORS OF SOCIAL WELFARE POLICIES, SOCIAL WORKERS MUST HAVE:

THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENERAL ROLE SUCH POLICIES PLAY IN SOCIETY.

• POLITICAL AWARENESS TO GRASP WHY PARTICULAR POLICIES ARE ADVOCATED BY CERTAIN GROUPS FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES.

• APPLIED KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONTENTS AND EVERYDAY

IMPACT OF MAJOR NATIONAL SOCIAL WELFARE POLICIES.

•

Social Welfare Policies in Contextual PerspectiveSocial Welfare Policies in Contextual Perspective

POLITICS(BARGAINING)

SOCIAL WELFARE POLICIES(LAWS))

WELFARE STATE(PROGRAMS/INSTITUTIONS)

LEGISLATIVEPROCESS

ADMINISTRATIVEIMPLEMENTATION

Social Welfare Policies: OriginsSocial Welfare Policies: Origins

• Political: originate from “felt” needs of some groups and can only be satisfied through government action

• Crisis: particular policies are often designed to meet a particular “crisis,” as perceived by those actors who sponsor them. (e.g., Medicare and Social Security reform.)

• Evolutionary or revolutionary: policies may evolve from established ones (e.g., changes in SS benefits) or be essentially without national precedent (e.g., Medicare)

SOCIAL POLICY ANALYSIS: DIMENSIONSSOCIAL POLICY ANALYSIS: DIMENSIONS

• TheoryTheory

• Seeks to understand the functions of swp within the overall context of its “host” society, and conducts research and analyses from this perspective. Key questionKey question: Are social welfare policies mere mere palliativespalliatives or are they proof of genuine social progressgenuine social progress?

• PoliticsPolitics

• Seeks to understand the political motives and forces supporting or opposing swps. How and why are particular policies enacted? Who benefits and who loses? Key questionKey question: Which direction---liberal, conservative, or ?----are future policies likely to take?

• AppliedApplied

• Seeks to understand policy specifics for practical administrative reasons and to assess the ground level impact such specifics have on the population being served. Key questionKey question: What are the practical difficulties and challenges of administering specific policies?

Social Welfare Policies: TypesSocial Welfare Policies: Types

• Universal social insurancesocial insurance programs (social security/medicare/ui) mostly financed through payroll payroll premiumspremiums and designed to protect against common existential hazards like unemployment or universal life hazards like old age. The electoral “third rails”of American politics

• General revenueGeneral revenue programs providing assistance (TANF/Medicaid) to those among the poor who can meet stringent eligibility (“means tested”) criteria. Relatively vulnerable to cuts given popular hostility/indifference towards the poor

• Certain tax relief programs tax relief programs that provide benefits to the working poor (EITC) or others (e.g., College tuition credits and proposed deductions for long term home care)

• Swps are intended to provide short term aid in case of commoncommon

hazards and long term support in cases of universaluniversal hazards

The Welfare State The Welfare State

• The totality of all social welfare programs in any given national setting.

• Varies greatly in size, type, and importance depending on the country.

• Most elaborate in the most advanced (that is, richest) countries---W. Europe, North America, and a few other places (e.g., Australia/New Zealand).

• European welfare states tend to be of the “maturemature” or “cradle to grave” type. The US welfare state in contrast usually classified as “immature.immature.”

• Level of ws development depends on the “balance of balance of contending groupscontending groups.”

Mature and Immature Welfare States (1)Mature and Immature Welfare States (1)

• USUS “Social safety netsSocial safety nets,” offering relatively modest social social

insurance insurance programs + publicly funded means-tested protection against absolute hardship or destitution. These are liberal liberal policies of the type characteristic of USUS social welfare legislation

EUROPEEUROPE Extensive social insurance Extensive social insurance + publicly funded non-

means tested programs designed to reduce the relative inequalities among members of different social classes. These are social democratic social democratic policies characteristic of EuropeanEuropean social welfare legislation

LiberalLiberal US & SWEDEN (2) S US & SWEDEN (2) Social Democraticocial Democratic

• Social security

• Unemployment insurance

• Medicare/medicaid

• Public housing

• Education through h.S

• Limited maternity leave

• Social security

• Extended ui and retraining

• Health care for all

• Housing allowance

• Free education

• Family allowance

• Six months maternity leave

• Pensions for all

• Paid vacations

Why Is The US “Exceptional?” (3)Why Is The US “Exceptional?” (3)

• Benefits often provided through work rather than the state; a “privatized” welfare system. (The “Treaty of Detroit” thesis.)

• Americans more individualistic than Europeans due to different historical/cultural experience: the “liberal” tradition and the frontier experience.

• US pro-welfare state groups less powerful and more fragmented than in W.Europe: divisions within labor and radical movements.

• American government more fragmented than in European centralized systems; consequently, easier to block social legislation at various points. (Called the “functionalist thesis.” )

• Capitalist state oppression of the “forces of movement:: ” Palmer raids, “McCarthyism,” and COINTELPRO. Most recently (e.1970s) powerful corporate-backed attack to regain political momentum lost during “the Sixties.”

QUESTION

• WHERE DO SOCIAL WORKERS FIT INTO THIS PROCESS?