American Social Policy Mid-term Flashcards
What is Social Policy?
Governmental policies that affect the income and life chances of individuals and groups.
Healthcare, Education, Civil Rights, Wage Regulation, Tax Policy, Manpower Policy
(What we describe as social policy is arbitrary)
Macro-societal theories (Theories)
what people should do for others
Macro-societal theories: (Theories)
what people should do for others, Political Institutions: powers of congress, president, supreme court, etc., Micro-incentives of politicians, policy inheritances
Poverty line (Social Policy Process)
Originally it was calculated using these steps: starting with the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet, multiplying this by 3 (⅓ of the income was spent on food), and adjusting for family size, family headed household, number of children. In 1969 the calculation was adjusted by inflation. NOW it is just adjusted for family size and inflation. Basically, the minimum to survive
Social insurance (Social Policy Process)
people’s right to a benefit linked to their work status/relationship to labor market–very popular in US.
Work value is a necessary and qualifying condition to get benefits.
Social insurance is a concept where the government intervenes in the insurance market to ensure that a group of individuals are insured or protected against the risk of any emergencies that lead to financial problems.
Discretionary (Social Policy Process)
govt makes decision on funding specific programs; congress allocates money to program. ex. Head Start; A certain amount of money goes to the program. If the money runs out, there is a waiting list.
First “Big Bang”
New Deal after the great depression and the Social Security Act (ex. Cash transfer program to widows)
Second “Big Bang”
Place during the 60’s under president Kennedy and carried out major big society programs (Medicare and Medicaid).
Logic of industrialization (Garlington)
movement of people from farms to factory jobs; relying on family members became obsolete b/c they moved away, they lacked a social safety net. Therefore, it was more difficult to deal with disabling accidents, unemployment. This led to the Great Depression.
Special Characteristics of the American State that led to certain types of policies. (State Centered Theories)
Responsibility is fragmented and weak bureaucracy leads to fragmentation and incrementalism.
state autonomy, political capacity, and political inheritance - for state centered theories
Policy inheritances / Policy feedback
Policy makers almost never go back to scratch in considering new approaches to problems. Also it would be highly costly.
Political unrest
Government responds to working class grievances when unrest threatens their grip on power.
Social division
Class divisions with a weak union/labor movement and racial differences prevented solidarity that is important to the welfare state.
Micro-theories of politicians’ motivations.
Politicians are motivated only by re-election.
State Structures (Value Perspective)
US constitutional provisions express individualism. The structure of elections, both local and national, also emphasizes individual rights; This new system emphasized a decentralized government to prevent a return to the parliamentary structure of the pre-
revolutionary America where the government could regulate the lives of individuals
Protestantism (Value Perspective)
Protecting the state and the churches from undue influence on each other reinforces the founding ideology of the USA by protecting individuals’ freedom and autonomy.
Protestant ethic, in sociological theory, the value attached to hard work, thrift, and efficiency in one’s worldly calling, which, especially in the Calvinist view, were deemed signs of an individual’s election, or eternal salvation
Economic dynamics (Value Perspective)
This individualistic explanation for economic success shaped the USA’s relationship with industrialization as well as the trajectory of workers’ organizations – both contributions to the development of welfare policy
Logic of industrialization (Nonvalues-oriented theories)
Welfare policy origins link directly to the timeline of industrialization in Western liberal democracies.
This group of theories focuses on how a country historically made the economic transition to a more industrial society and how that country addressed the social consequences of these changes. Example below.
In the USA, for example, the early 1900s saw the development of policy targeting the aging population: “performing something of a regulatory function by instituting programs to provide for those necessarily (and appropriately) forced from the productive economy”.
State Centered (Nonvalues-oriented theories)
Cross-national (relating to two or more nations) variation of policy implementation is due to state autonomy, political capacity, and coherence and dispersion of power, and political inheritances.
A state’s action capacity regarding social policy under a specific political organization determines its state autonomy.
State political capacity includes three main elements: “formal boundaries of legitimate government intervention, government’s fiscal ability, and professionalism and expertise of legislators and public administrators.
Political class struggle (Nonvalues-oriented theories)
The USA lacks both an expansive welfare state and a history of left-wing/ working-class political organizing.
Esping-Andersen (1990) wrote: “the history of political class coalitions is the most decisive cause of welfare-state variation” (p.1).
The Federal Relief Administration (FERA) 1933
For the first time the federal government assumed responsibility for relief and appropriated substantial funds to carry out that responsibility.
Relief grants were not directed to traditional categories of unemployment–such as widows or orphans–but all needy unemployed persons and/or their dependents.
Social Security Act of 1935 (New Deal)
- ) Old age insurance (Social Security) - earnings related to benefits
- ) Old age assistance (OAA) - cash payments to certain individuals in the state, regardless of earnings
New Deal Major Accomplishments
Unemployment Insurance; Minimum Wage Legislation; Families with Dependent Children–income transfer to poor families w/dependents; social security act of 1935
Families with Dependent Children
(Aid to Dependent Children - ADC 1933 or 1934)- first cash welfare program
Great Society
Health programs (Medicare, Medicaid); Income transfer programs for female headed households; Supplemental Security Income program (replaced OAA); In-Kind program expansion (food stamp act 1964); War on Poverty
Convergence Theory
states that due to structural forces in economies many countries will show signs of convergence in policies over time. However, this ignores the role of human intervention.
Esping-Anderson Model (based on Distinct Regime Theory)
Static model that argues that there are three different states: Liberal, Corporatist, and Social Democratic
Liberal State (spectrum of intervention)
Minimal State Intervention
Corporatist State intervention (spectrum of intervention)
Medium State Intervention
Social Democratic intervention (spectrum of intervention)
Maximum State Intervention
3 dimensions are critical in placing countries in regimes:
1) Individual-state-market relations
2) Social Stratification
3) Social rights
Individual-state-market relations
the degree to which individuals or families can uphold an acceptable standard of living independently of market participation.
Social Stratification
how citizens are treated based on their relationship to the labor market. (Social class status)
Are there opportunities for class solidarity? Cross-class alliances?
Social rights
does the state provide public services (e.g. pensions) as a matter of right.
Public Choice Model
argues that actors involved are motivated by narrow self interests (e.g. politicians). This leads to spending that is out of control.
Gilbert’s “Theory of the Enabling State”
an explanation of a greater shift for all states where there is public support for private responsibility. These include social provisions transferred through work incentives, tax benefits, or purchase of service contracts.
4 Forces moving world toward enabling state
1) Immense Fiscal Pressures
2) Globalization of Economy
3) Changing Ideas and Normative Views
4) Changing Views and confidence in private sector to cure social ills
Bad Draws
people who were dealt a bad hand at birth or later and who have suffered misfortune as a result.
bad bets
individuals who derive little benefit from a social program; people who are unlikely to derive much benefit from a programmatic intervention on their behalf relative to either the resources that they would consume or the benefits that better bets would derive from the same resources.
bad apples
individuals whose participation imposes significant costs on other participants; most bad apples are chronic, serious disrupters of the programs in which they participate; their behavior reduces the degree to which good apple participants benefit from a program.
Well-targeted redistributionists
Citizens who want to maintain and expand social programs designed to promote the well-being of deserving bad draws
Behaviorally linked programs (targeted program)
include those programs that supplement the resources available to particular groups among the poor, but tie these resource supplements to particular behaviors. (Includes many of the in-kind programs like Food Stamps, Section 8 Housing Vouchers, or Medicaid.)
Targeted service programs
include those programs that provide specific services for particular groups among the poor, with the goal of either changing the environment or changing the behavior of the poor.
Advantages of Targeted Programs
- respond to the suspicion that high poverty rates are linked to the behavior of the poor by imposing greater constraints on who is helped and how they are helped.
- Relatively small cost
- Easier to evaluate than broad based programs
- Have natural constituencies that care about the goods and services they provide (e.g., Head Start)
Disadvantages of Targeted Programs
- ) Cost more per participant
- ) Effective operation of these programs requires first rate management
- ) produce relatively modest long-term effects for their participants
Timing of US Welfare Programs
1) late initiation of major social programs relative to other western industrial countries.
2) concentration of policy development - new deal and great society (2 big bangs).
3) Incremental changes.
4) retrenchment in the 1980s w/ Reagan
Substance of US Welfare Programs
1) low expenditures; 2) focus on pensions; 3) absence of universal healthcare; 4) heavy reliance of social insurance programs; 5) heavy reliance on tax breaks; 6) significant reliance on states
Equity
1) Incredibly high levels of income inequality in the US; 2) high levels of poverty, especially among parents w/children
National Values/Ideology Theory
stresses that US programs reflect specific American cultural values
-individualism, liberty, distrust of government. (American Creed)
Weaknesses of the logic of industrialization
rapid industrialization; lags from industrialization to first social policy development; program emergence in new deal
Problems with great society programs
failed to properly deal w/ poverty; threatened local leaders; gradual withdrawal from Johnson b/c Vietnam war required more money.
2 Types of problems for policy analysis
1) design; 2) political
6 design problems for policy analysis
1) disagreement over specific causes; 2) causes of problem can be interrelated or multiple; 3) unintended targets can be excluded w/o excluding those in need of program; 4) minimize perverse incentives; 5) consider how they interact with other programs; 6) program objectives may bump into other valued goals
3 political problems for policy analysis
1) political incentives are high, we forget to study the real issues; 2) program objectives and workability must be compromised to meet financial constraints; 3) problems seem costly and are abandoned by politicians
Case: Geography of Poverty (Moving to Opportunity)
1) creating social program especially difficult when goals are ambiguous; 2) programs help but they can also hurt people; 3) changing human behavior is difficult no matter how good the program.
Comparative social policy: Social Spending
cash benefits direct in-kind benefits, targeted toward low-income families or elderly
Comparative social policy: pension spending
all cash expenditures on old age or survivor benefits
Social Stratification
how citizens are treated in a society based on their relationships to labor market; class integration
social rights
does the state provide public services, like pensions, as a matter of right
Liberal Countries
US, Australia, Canada; only caters to low-income working class; not a strong labor movement; fails to assert dominance and benefits for working class; passively encouraging market; benefits are linked to employment status
Corporatist State
France, Germany; state plays primary role, private sector plays lower; not as much inequality as liberal; mixture of government services and market-based solutions.
Social Democratic
Denmark, Sweden; benefits offered to the highest equality; employment and equalarian principles; lower-class inequality; pay as you go system; minimum level of provisions to the unemployed who didn’t participate in system
Criticisms of Esping-Andersen’s Model
no room for movement between categories; no negative features on social democratic states
Gilbert’s model of enabling state
not a static typology - explanation of greater shift of all industrial countries; designed to enable people to work and enable voluntary (private) sector to provide rather than government
4 influences of enabling state
1) immense fiscal pressures; 2) globalization of economy; 3) changing ideas and normative views; 4) changing views and confidence in private sector to cure social ills
Case: Centrelink (Transformation of the Welfare State)
1) welfare states are resistant to change even in the face of massive upheaval; 2) changes are incremental in nature such as small movement to public or private provisions
7 sociodemographic changes
1) boomer generation entered workforce; 2) women entered workforce in large #s; 3) decline in job security, drop in manufacturing jobs, rise in service jobs; 4) increased in older people in population; 5) rise in nonmarital births among whites & blacks; 6) increasing trends of jobs moving out of northern cities; 7) growth of black middle class.
Political realignment
emergence of new, stable party electoral majorities that relegate opponent to obscurity for sustained amount of time. Democratic New Deal Coalition or Reagan election
What caused breakdown?
race - white resentment & values - cultural wars
5 legacies of Reagan Admin
1) retrenchment of social policy spending in first 3 years of administration then stalemate; 2) expansion in certain programs that promoted conservative values; 3) devolution to the states & work requirements; 4) very little of removing completely; 5) major overhauls in policy was unlikely
Murray - 1984 Losing Ground
1) trends in the improvement in black poverty rate stopped as means-tested programs started; 2) major difference in labor force & poverty between younger, older blacks, and older whites; 3) trend in relevant earnings; 4) teenage pregnancy & non-marital births
Murray - 2006/revised in 2016 In our Hands
1) government programs are too costly; 2) bureaucracy creates inefficiency & society that isn’t virtuous
Murray’s 5 solutions
1) passport and bank account for everyone; 2) annual $10,000 grant to every American 21+; 3) pay for thorough income tax; 4) dismantle programs that provide benefits for select people; 5) transportation, postal service, not pure libertarian–can stay in government
Arguments against Murray
1) human behavior is guided by other things, not just economic; 2) entitlement programs do more than give money to people (Medicare research funds research); 3) ahistorical view - non profits do much of the work
Case: Role Responsibility
1) values drive the creation of public policy; 2) depending on a variety of circumstances values can change
Universalism
welfare benefits available to everyone as a matter of social right
Targeting
benefits distributed on the basis of need
Targeting Benefits
1) efficiency & low-cost -not spending money on people who do not need them; 2) quality - only serves a small number of people do not dilute quality; 3) public support - smaller the budget, more affordable
Universal Benefits
1) efficiency & low cost - many benefit, targeted programs do not reach intended audience; 2) quality - programs for poor tend to be poor quality; 3) public support - cost more, but receive support by richer clientele
Case: NY Center for Economic Opportunity & Targeted Programs
1) Know your clientele (customers), know the population you want to serve; 2) recognize the tradeoffs between universal & targeted programs
3 periods of federalism
1) dual, 2) cooperative, 3) new federalism
Dual Federalism
state autonomy at developing programs; emphasis on state rights; beginning of country (ratification of constitution) to great depression; State and Federal governments are working separately
Cooperative federalism
began at great depression to 1970s; federal government expanded in size; started many programs; grants given to states for specific purposes (categorical grants); powers and policy assignments that are shared between state and national governments. This includes shared costs, federal guidelines, and shared administration.
New federalism
started under Nixon; general revenue sharing; no strings attached funding (block grants)
4 issues common to federalism
1) tensions btw diversity & uniformity; 2) tensions btw local control & fragmentation; 3) tension between local autonomy & need for coordination; 4) tension between financial autonomy & fiscal control
2 types of federalism
1) fiscal; 2) regulatory
Fiscal Federalism
federal grant making system, injection of federal money into states to promote national ends; categorical grants; block grants
Regulatory Federalism
federal government beats states & localities into submissions; linked to grant process
4 types of regulatory federalism
1) cross-cutting requirement–buying state compliance through grants; 2) crossover sanction; 3) partial preemption; 4) direct orders/mandates (compelling state compliance through mandated action)
Case Social services in Hartford
1)flip-side to social service provision - tax & budgeting issues for providing services in locality; 2) city, state, & national policies all influence social service provision
Case: Hunger in America (Historical Development of the U.S. Welfare State)
1) acknowledge difficulty in measuring social problems; 2) acknowledge difficulty in target audience; 3) mismatch between past goals - creates conflict in program
universal (entitlement) v. selective (means-tested)
- given to everyone by broad characteristics ;
- testing of one’s financial status (programs that considered person income);
