FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL/UNIVERSITY

College of Health and Urban Affairs

School of Social Work

 

Fall 2009

 

SOW 5235 - SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY AND SERVICE

 

Richard L. Beaulaurier, PhD, MSW

Phone: 305-348-5876                        

Office: HLS II 363A

Email: beau@fiu.edu

Office Hours:  Wednesday 5:00-7:40pm

 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course analyzes major social welfare policies and programs in the United States, their emergence, development, contemporary operations, and how they shaped the development of the Social Work profession.

A.     A macro systems perspective is offered of

1.     the interplay of among economics, politics, and personalities;

2.     how these elements were fashioned during different historical

periods;

3.     how these elements shaped the development of the Social Work

profession;

4.     how future directions of social welfare policies are likely to affect the

goals of economic and social justice.

B   On the mezzo and micro systems level, cost benefit analyses of financial resources-allocations, decision-making interchanges, and the service delivery systems are utilized.

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

At the conclusion of this course, students are expected:

A.   To gain both awareness and broad-based context on how social welfare policy is formulated, the legislative process it undergoes, the give-and-take of lobbies, pressure groups, media-arousing interests it generates, and the evaluation techniques that are employed to judge its effectiveness.

B.     To develop a resources-model approach to political and economic milieux within which social policies emerge. This includes an appreciation of a society that has been historically polarized by racial, ethnic, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age and regional differences that continue until today, and the social transformations that have taken place to ameliorate these divisions, the role of values, beliefs, traditions and ideologies in policy making and the countervailing parties that disagree with the dominant and prevailing policies; the inconsistencies and unresolved contradictions among customs, ingrained habits, dogmas, principles, and creeds and how these nevertheless survive in both cooperative and antagonistic relations.

C.     To synthesize how the above-described complexities interact in the process of individual and group empowerment.

D.   To understand the process of "formation and consequence" in a society of contending governmental branches; the respective legislative, executive and judicial responsibilities and imprecisely defined division of powers among various levels of government entities.  A focus on structural, political, economic, legal-precedential, cultural variables will be emphasized.

E.     To familiarize the student with the major social welfare programs and issues in many areas that are always undergoing legislative scrutiny by the federal congress, state and municipal governments.

F.       To familiarize the student with the linkages between national and international social welfare responses to the issues of poverty and social justice.

 

EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES

A.   To learn critical skills in the developmental phases of policy analysis, resource allocations, and contingency forecasting.

B.     To learn conceptual skills to evaluate critically the impact of public policies and their short-, intermediate-, and long-term consequences. These involve an awareness of risk-analysis, cost assessment and funding-estimates, and other factors.

C.    To define the role of advocacy in the context of infinite social demands and finite resources.

D.     To achieve a level of computer literacy that will enable the student to be current with electronic bibliographic sources and policy analysis networks and reports.

E.     To familiarize the student with the research and evaluative technologies needed to judge program effectiveness and speculate on programmatic developments in social welfare policy areas.

 

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

 

 

TEXTS [required]

 

Gilbert, N., & Terrell, P. (2010). Dimensions of Social Welfare Policy. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

           

Jansson, B. S. (2009). The Reluctant Welfare State (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

 

            It is imperative for social policy students to be au courant regarding newsworthy events in general and the economy, politics and social welfare justice [informal and general], minorities, gender and preference issues in particular.

            You should read one newspaper daily [Miami Herald, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel – local and regional emphases – New York Times, Washington Post – national and international] and watch a national newscast CNN, C-Span, PBS Lehrer Newshour, BBC World News (PBS). NPR’s Morning or Evening newscast. Interested students may also want to listen to/watch more polemic sources such as Fox News, commentaries on CNN, AM “talk radio” (AM 610, AM 940, Radio Mambi, etc.) or even the Daily Show. These sources are interesting for their political perspective or humorous content. However students are STRONGLY CAUTIONED that they CANNOT be considered reliable sources of news.

            News outlets have over the Internet proliferated in recent years. All of the major newspapers and broadcast news sources have websites, many of them highly reputable. The FIU library system also provides an excellent array of high quality news sources in electronic formats.

            However, the internet is also home to an incredibly large repository of bad, disreputable and unreliable information. For this reason most website may NOT BE considered appropriate sources of information for this class. If there are any questions about this, or you find a website that you think might be acceptable, please seek clarification from the instructor.

 

Assignment Requisites

 

Mechanics and Structure

 

            Students are to prepare for each class period by reading assigned materials, handouts, and library references.  Grades will be determined by

 

1.               Class attendance is obligatory and participation in class discussion based on dated topics. [10%]

 

2.         Three exams from the required readings.  (22% each [66% total]).

 

3.         A position paper on an issue of your choice. This assignment will be described in detail on a separate handout, as well as posted on the instructor’s website.  [24%]

 

            Final grades will be earned according to Florida International University grading system.  Review the following grade outline:

           

            A = 100-93                  B- = 82-80                  D+ = 69-67

            A-=  92-90                  C+= 79-77                   D   = 66-63

            B+= 89-87                   C  = 76-73                   D- =  62-60

            B  = 86-83                   C- = 72-70                  F   =  59-0

 
Course Outline

 

 

Sessions

 

1                             Introduction and Course Overview

 

2                             The Field of Social Welfare Policy and the Concept of the Welfare State

 

Reading:  Gilbert and Terrell,

Chapter 1: “The Field of Social Welfare Policy”

Chapter 2, “The Modern Welfare State”

 

3                             The Concept of the Welfare State and The Framework for Analysis

 

Reading: Gilbert and Terrell,

Chapter 3, “A Framework for Social Welfare Policy Analysis”

               

4                             Social Allocations and Provisions

 

Reading: Gilbert and Terrell,

Chapter 4, “The Basis of Social Allocations”

Chapter 5, “The Nature of Social Provisions”

              

5                             The Mixed Structure of Delivery Systems

 

Reading: Gilbert and Terrell,

Chapter 6, “The Design of the Delivery System”

              

6                             Finances

 

Reading: Gilbert and Terrell,

Chapter 7, “The Mode of Finance: Source of Funds”

               Chapter 8, “The Mode of Finance: System of Transfer”

              

 

 

7                             Welfare in the USA Before the Civil War

 

Reading:         Jansson

               Chapter 3: “Fashioning a New Society in the Wilderness”

               Chapter 4: “Social Welfare Policy in the Early Republic: 1789-1860”

 

8                             The Era of Scientific Charity and the Progressive Era

 

Reading:         Jansson

               Chapter 5: “Lost Opportunities: The Frontier, The Civil War and Industrialization”

               Chapter 6: “Social Reform and the Progressive Era”

 

9                             Depression

 

Reading:         Jansson

               Chapter 7: “Social Policy to Address the Worst Economic Catastrophe in US History”

              

 

10                         The Era of the Fed

 

Reading:         Jansson

               Chapter 8: “The era of Federal Social Services: The new frontier and the Great Society”

              

 

11                         Paradox

 

Reading:         Jansson

               Chapter 9: “The Paradoxical Era: 1968-1980”

              

12                         Conservative Resurgence

 

Reading:         Jansson

               Chapter 10: “The conservative Counterrevolution in the Era fo Reagan and Bush Sr.”

              

 

Uncertainty and Gridlock:

 

Reading  Jansson

               Chapter 11: “Reluctance Illustrated: Policy Uncertainty during the Clinton Administration”

               Chapter 12: “Buh’s Quest for Realignment

13                         The Past and Future of Social Welfare in America

 

Reading:         Jansson

               Chapter 13: “Why has the American Welfare State been Reluctant—and What can we do about it?”

               Chapter 2: “Making the American Welfare State More Humane—Past, Present and Future.

               Chapter 14: “Using your knowledge of the evolution of the American Welfare State to Improve your Professional Practice.”

              

              

 

 

 

 

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