Class 3: Structure of the Welfare State and Policymakers Flashcards
What is the problem?
The very basis of social policy is the belief that there is a problem that needs to be addressed by government
Many social conditions never become problems
How does a society decide what is a problem and what is merely a condition?
From “problem” to “on the agenda”
Once a condition is recognized as a problem – how does this problem become part of the governmental agenda?
John Kingdon (Poli/Sci scholar) notes several ways that problems are recognized and become part of the governmental agenda.
Power of problem definition
A condition becomes a problem when recognized by a significant number of people or a number of significant people
Vexing conditions can remain and persist but never become defined as a problem
Carol Weissert (Poli/Sci Scholar)
“Successfully defining conditions as problems (smog, learning disabilities, global warming, etc.) is perhaps the most important single step in obtaining policy change.”
“Problem definition is the very engine of change because it is the essence of power.”
“Problems are inherently political because they are not simply out there waiting to be solved; they must be formulated and defined, using political skill to mobilize support for the desired position.”
Getting on the agenda
Officials keep track of indicators over time
•Poverty rates in sub-groups, marriage rates, birth rates, high school graduation rates, rates of disease infection
•Costs of programs like Medicaid or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Changes in these indicators or a large magnitude may catch official attention
A focusing event like a disaster, personal experience, crisis or symbol
The most effective way to get a problem on the agenda is to have an incoming president seize and articulate the problem as necessary to address
Getting on the agenda: Indicators
According to the CDC
•In 1998, 30 million adults (18-64) did not have health insurance coverage
•In 2010, 42 million adults (18-64) did not have health insurance coverage
These are statistics about magnitude which show an increasing trend in adults who lack health insurance coverage over more than a decade
Providing context for the Affordable Care Act
These data were very important in the healthcare reform
Of primary importance, however, was an incoming president with a mandate (election promise), social capital and the oval office to move this legislation forward
This is the first significant healthcare legislation since Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960’s
Getting on the agenda: Focusing event
Can be dramatic events that force the political system to respond directly
•9/11
Can be political movements that attempt to alter the debate
•Widespread protests around the country/world
A president’s first “90 days” are when
•Executive orders as a both symbolic and practical step to tie in with campaign talk
•This is driven by candidates, political parties, journalistic coverage and constituent pressure
Political power and groups
Theories can help us think about the exercise of power in the political arena.
•Power to influence political actors and their agenda
We turn our attention to group function, power and politics to skillfully position ourselves to understand the dynamic process involved in policy formulation
Pluralism
Pluralism: a core political science theory about how groups function in our political system
•adherents believe the political process is dominated by a number of autonomous groups that compete in an open political system; professional organizations, trade unions, business and financial lobbies
These various groups go about attempting to secure their policy preferences
the result of this competition among groups produces observed policies
pluralists hold that there is equality in political opportunity
Pluralism and power
Pluralists are concerned with
•Potential power; ability to turn resources into power (resources: cash, skills, prestige, legal authority, access, etc)
•Actual power;A can force B to do X;A can block B from gaining X
Pluralists suggest
•resources and potential power are widely distributed throughout society
•some resources are available to all (vote, sign petition, contact legislator, etc.)
•at any given political moment potential power exceeds actual power
Elite theory
C. Wright Mills wrote an influential book called the “Power Elite”, published in 1956
the term power elite was used to describe a relatively small, loosely knit group of people who tend to dominate American policymaking
•bureaucratic, corporate, intellectual, military, and government elites who control the principal institutions in the U.S. and whose opinions and actions influence the decisions of policymakers
Mills on the Elite theory
“The powers of ordinary men are circumscribed by the everyday worlds in which they live, yet even in these rounds of jobs, family and neighborhood they often seem driven by forces they can neither understand nor govern. ‘Great changes’ are beyond their control, but affect their conduct and outlook none the less. The very framework of modern society confines them to projects not their own, but from every side, such changes now press upon the men and women of the mass society, who accordingly feel that they are without purpose in an epoch in which they are without power.”
Characteristics of the power elite
Mills suggests the small group of individuals who hold pivotal government, industry and economic posts dominate and control political power
•form a tight-knit group, closely collaborate and move between government and pivotal industries; this movement and collaboration produce a concentration of power and worldview among these actors
Examples:
•Henry Paulson: Secretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush (July 2006-January 2009); CEO of Goldman Sachs (1999-2006)
•William Summers: Secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton (1999-2001); Director of the White House National Economic Council for Barack Obama (2009-2010); President of Harvard (2001-2006); Chief Economist at the World Bank (1991-1993)
shared attitudes and beliefs among these actors ensure that
•regardless of political party
•in spite of seeming “bickering” among elites
all basically agree on some fundamental tenets
•primacy of free-enterprise system
•profit motive
•private property
•maintain the unequal distribution of wealth
•sanctity of private economic power
How does this concentration occur?
Theorists suggest the following mechanisms:
•read the same newspapers
•live in the same neighborhoods
•join the same clubs
•send kids to same schools (often private, legacy admissions)
•share churches and charitable activities
•intermarry
Political scientists, Thomas Dye, notes that
•54% of corporate leaders, 42% of highest ranking politicians went just 12 private colleges
Groups, power, money and democracy
Can democracy exist without interest groups?
•how to harness political will?
Are all citizens equal in organizing interest groups?
•why or why not? what might some of the constraints be?
Are interest groups too powerful?
•how would you know?
Pluralist idea: as an individual in a democracy, one has little power
•find like minded folks and organize, fund-raise, lobby and your group can have an impact on policy
Power elite idea:
•a limited group of powerful actors across important government, industry and military sectors so constrain the; scope of the issue; the agenda; levers of power; resources that the masses are left with little power in a severely limited policy scope
