The first thought in watching the video relates to the need for the social work profession to bridge the gap between political ideologies that continue to influence the political process. For example, the idea that the governmental structures continue to debate whether or not public welfare should exist when it is clearly Constitutional. The question of to what extent government intervention should take, in my opinion, the government's role is to take full responsibility for the general welfare. Now, the role the government should take is up to debate because whether it is privatized or not, the government's role would simply need to switch from administration to regulation. Next, I noted that the number of people on welfare has declined over 60% since the PRWORA Act in the mid-1990's until today, yet the rate of poverty continues to rise. In 1992, after greater restrictions were implemented for AFDC during the 1980's the poverty rate was 14.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, 1992). In 1996, during the enactment of the PRWORA Act, the poverty rate decreased to 13.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, 1996). But, today we face a 19% poverty rate. So, it makes me wonder if the AFDC program which was less restrictive than TANF, our current system was working better to relieve poverty. It is also obvious that we are working better in reducing welfare rolls than reducing poverty. The last impression made by the video relates to the concern over the rising costs of Medicare and Social Security and the issue of sustainability in the long term. There are many strategies proposed to address the presumed financing dilemma such as privatizing, raising the retirement age and calculating benefits over 40 years rather than 35 employment years, and lowering the COLA adjustment by 1/2 percentage point. All of these are a means to dilute the amount of benefits being distributed, but as it stands right now, the labor force remains adequate in taking in more revenues than it pays out. I think there should be a concern as the ratio of the labor force to retirees have shrunk from 16 to 1 during the 1950's to an estimated 2.9 to 1 as of 2010 but I don't believe there is an immediate threat.
Chapter 6
Source: Karger, H.J. & Stoesz. D. (2014). American social welfare policy: A pluralist approach, 7e, Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ Chapter 7
Source: Karger, H.J. & Stoesz. D. (2014). American social welfare policy: A pluralist approach, 7e, Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ The Supplementary Poverty Measure is superior to the prior federal poverty measure in that it provides a more accurate picture of poverty. By considering in-kind benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits, and the like, when calculating income as well as additional considerations for expenditures, the rate of poverty in America is more clear. Expenditure considerations in the new measure include the costs of earning a living, the current rate of food consumption (about 1/7 of income rather than the previous 1/3 in the poverty threshold). The new measure is also supplementary and will not replace the previous measure for the purposes of measuring poverty. It is not being used to determine eligibility for benefits.
Child support enforcement resolves the problem of poverty for families because it sometimes accounts for a large percentage of the household income. It is especially important for low-income families that are headed by women which are most likely to live in poverty as it may be sufficient to protect children against the poverty condition. Child support enforcement exacerbates the problem of poverty because it sometimes leads to the absence of the father in the child's life above and beyond the financial support. Fathers can become embittered and neglect the child having a deleterious effect on their development. Also, child support orders cause many men to avoid employment to escape payment. Because such a high percentage of their wages can be taken for child support payments, many men will not work. Wages are lower than the living wage established by the Fair Minimum Wage Act in 2007 because economists claim that wage increases result in inflation and job loss, especially for low-wage workers. Besides this, wages are not automatically adjusted to cost of living in this country. Congress has to pass a bill that must be signed by the president in order for wages to rise. Living wage campaigns seek to force government subsidized employers to pay living wages. The purpose is that when these employers pay less than a living wage, taxpayers pay double in increased taxes to pay for income support programs. One of the primary strengths of all three approaches is that they form the basis for social welfare policy. The strength of the curative approach is in introducing new workers into the labor market. Not only does it boost the economy, but it has the benefit of helping the individual escape poverty and achieve social mobility. The weakness of the approach is when the market fails to produce adequate job opportunities for the poor. The strength of the alleviative approach is that it protects vulnerable people against poverty and increases spending in the market. Its weakness may be the unintended result of welfare dependency. The strength of the preventative method is in guarding the aged and disabled against poverty. The weakness of the approach is that most fixed-income recipients continue to live below the poverty line. The fringe economy consists of the credit industry such as payday loan companies, pawn shops, furniture and appliance rental outlets, etc. that provide cash and other goods that prey on the poor for a large fee. It is a subeconomy that includes large banks, high-risk credit cards, high interest home loans, overdraft protection, and deferred retail payments. It is a subeconomy so the fees charged for these financial and other services have little relationship to their real value in the mainstream marketplace. It is where economic distress and low credit scores lead to the high costs of high-risk lending
Chapter 1 Summary
The chapter provides an overview of the American welfare state as viewed through the lens of the political economy. It examines various definitions of social welfare policy, the relationship between social policy and social problems, the values and ideologies that drive American social welfare, and the effects of ideology on the U.S. welfare state (i.e. conservatism, liberalism, and their variations). The chapter discusses the influence of American conservatism evidenced through various Presidential terms and the social policies they developed, as well as the emergence of privatized social services. This represents a shift in social policy from a reliance on government intervention to the shouldering of the welfare burden on the marketplace. The chapter explains how the mixed welfare economy of volunteer initiatives, the government, and private sector social services coexist in the United States and the questions it raises for welfare professionals. Social welfare policies are further identified as the result of the context in which benefits are provided through government legislation (i.e. TANF and other federally-funded programs). It also covers the benefits of social welfare policy and explains the two categories of the political economy. The first category are predominantly economic schools of thought and the other is political. The ideologies, or worldviews, that are in operation and driving social policy take on the form of various economic frameworks, including Keynesianism, free market economics, socialism, communitarianism, and others. The final aspect of ideologies are represented through political platforms such as the Liberals and Conservatives, and their various derivatives. Chapter 1 Questions: 1. What are some of the benefits of social welfare policy? 2. How does the political economy influence social policy? Chapter 2 Summary The chapter defines the work of policy analysts and the goals of their work which are to provide information to legislators and for advocacy purposes. The chapter examines one of the major tools used by researchers, a systematic and structured framework for policy analysis and recommend a specific model for use. It also provides the many ways that analysts use frameworks to evaluate policies such as how they help us to determine whether a policy is congruent with the mission and goals of the welfare state as well as social work values. The chapter outlines the eight elements of a well-designed policy framework and the four components of the proposed policy analysis model. They are the historical background of the policy, a description of the problem that necessitated the policy, the policy description, and the policy analysis which involves the policy goals, and political, economic, and administrative feasibility. The well-designed policy framework can provide valuable information to lawmakers and the general public in determining the implications of a policy on a target population. This will also help to determine alternative means of addressing the problem. The analyst charged with the duty of evaluating policies must put aside his own values and base the analysis on objective criteria. They are also required to evaluate a policy using a systematic framework as well as make recommendations. Finally, the chapter provides useful tools and resources for locating information during the research process and methods for selecting a policy or focusing on a segment of a policy to make it more manageable for analysis. Chapter 2 Questions: 1. What is the purpose of a policy framework? 2. What are the four components of the proposed Policy Analysis Model? Chapter 3 Summary This chapter explores the social, political, and economic contribution of religion, particularly Christianity, to the establishment of the welfare state, the social work profession, and social welfare policy from a historical perspective. It discusses world-renowned ideologies of early philosophers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Charles Darwin and their impact on poor aid during various times and eras throughout U.S. history The examination of early worldviews also explain how religious justifications permitted maltreatment of the poor by the government and society. The chapter also reflects on the influence of conservatism that typifies American society and culture from that time to this day. The chapter looks at the impact of slavery and war that led to early legislation for poor aid and how it was administered. It discusses various movements that sought to change prevalent worldviews, and are reminiscent of their failures and successes that remain evident today. Finally, it looks at the shift of the delivery of social services from the government to faith-based organizations and the current ideologies that drive welfare policy, namely the prosperity movement. Chapter 3 Questions: 1. What Christian values remain existent in social welfare policy? 2. Why has the U.S. government shifted the responsibility of social welfare programs to be administered by faith-based organizations? Chapter 4 Summary The chapter examines the various forms of discrimination and how the consequences of poverty affects specific populations of minority groups. The chapter also identifies how policymakers seek to provide equal opportunity for social mobility by curtailing discriminatory practices and attitudes (i.e. affirmative action), especially in marginalized group and their potential social and economic achievement based on current and future social policy initiatives. Chapter 4 Questions: 1. What is the difference between discrimination and racism? 2. Which minority group has the highest median family income? I. Poverty is defined and conceptualized by various theories, ideologies, and value systems.
a. The U.S. government refers to poverty as a standard of living that falls below the minimum, predetermined requirements to maintain adequate food, shelter, clothing, and health (Eitzen, 2011). b. Individuals have their own ideas and aspirations as to their ideas of success, financial security, and standards of living. c. Factors of equality and the equitable distribution of resources are hard to decipher. d. Social and economic justice is the goal of the social work profession. II. The two prevailing theories of poverty are cultural and structural theories. a. Cultural theories purports the innate inferiority of certain groups and emphasize personal responsibility for one’s living conditions. b. Structural theories emphasize the deliberate actions or inaction of social institutions that disenfranchise vulnerable groups. III. The poor and their needs tend to be the least visible to society and the government. a. Whites sustain a poverty rate of about 11.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). b. Asian households are estimated at a poverty rate of 11.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). c. Hispanics are experiencing poverty at a rate of 23.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). d. African Americans maintain a poverty rate of 25.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). e. American Indian and Alaskan Natives suffer the highest poverty rate of 27% which is higher than the national average (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). IV. The U.S. government has failed to adequately address the impoverishment of its citizens. a. The Social Security Act of 1935 has been the single most important legislation to address the poverty condition in the United States. b. An official War on Poverty was declared by President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 8, 1964 to address the nearly 19 percent poverty rate in the country. c. Ideology shifts led to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 by President Bill Clinton. V. Poverty is big business for the economy. a. The rich profit from the working poor in many ways. b. Poverty helps to maintain the status quo. c. Myths about the poor perpetuate the problem. The three things I learned from this week's readings are strategies for effective policy analysis, policy frameworks and their use, and social welfare policy research. I anticipate using any one of these three concepts in professional social work practice in a number of settings for various reasons. For example, policy analysis can be used in an agency or governmental setting. In an agency, monitoring public policy may be necessary to evaluate practices and appropriate agency policies based on current or changes in the law. In a governmental setting, policy analysis can be conducted for advocacy or congressional research purposes.
Policy frameworks are necessary for policy analysis since they provide a structured and systematic way for determining if a policy is economically, politically, or socially feasible. Frameworks allow for testing congruencies with social welfare values and initiatives, as well as established tenets of the welfare state. I can see myself utilizing analysis models to pose relevant questions about a policies efficacy, lawfulness, or potential impact, especially, on oppressed groups. I will use policy research for gathering relevant date to either propose changes to an existing policy or for the development of potentially new legislation that I may want to propose. |
D. MitchellSW 4710 - Fall 2015 Archives
December 2015
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