Learn: Foundations, History, and Social Welfare Policy

Social welfare

The well-being of a society, including its health, economic conditions, happiness, and quality of life.

Social welfare program

A service or other product created through social welfare policy, such as education.

Parts of a social welfare system

The four parts are social issues, policy goals, legislation or regulation, and social welfare programs.

Why have a social welfare system?

A system provides a safety net and organizes services that individuals cannot efficiently provide alone, such as paving roads.

Universality and selectivity

Universality offers benefits to everyone regardless of income, but can be costly. Selectivity limits services to people who meet need-based criteria, which can create stigma and exclude people just above a cutoff.

Culture of poverty

The belief that some people are born into poverty and socialized to remain poor; requires change in both institutions and individuals.

Rational policy-making

An idealized process requiring knowledge of all groups' values, possible alternatives, consequences, and costs and benefits.

Conditions for an idea to become policy

A compelling public problem, a solution, and political support must come together for an idea to become policy.

Causes of poverty in England

Population growth, poor harvests, debased coinage, land enclosure, dissolution of monasteries, shifts from crops to animal farming, monarch-family spending, and illness or plague.

The 1920s investment boom

Many people invested in the stock market during the 1920s, including with loans and credit, amid a period described as 'easy money.'

AFDC's origins

Aid to Families with Dependent Children developed from Mother's Aid and ADC, becoming part of the 1935 Social Security Act to provide cash to families with dependent children in need.

Absolute and relative poverty measures

An absolute measure uses a clear cutoff. A relative measure compares a person's situation with an agreed-upon social norm.

Feminization and juvenilization of poverty

Feminization refers to women and children being overrepresented in poverty. Juvenilization refers specifically to the overrepresentation of children.

Homelessness and housing

Rising child poverty and less affordable housing—including reduced urban development and low-income housing assistance—contribute to homelessness.

TANF work requirements

After two years, TANF families must work, train, perform community service, or provide child care for at least 24 hours per week.

WIC

Provides nutrition and health assistance through the USDA and local clinics to income-eligible pregnant/postpartum women, infants, and children under age five at nutritional risk.

Medicaid, Medicare, and Medigap

Medicaid covers low-income groups like those on AFDC/TANF; Medicare covers older adults; Medigap is regulated private insurance that covers Medicare gaps.

Social welfare system

The organized efforts and strategies used to support society's well-being.

Values and beliefs

A value is the worth or usefulness placed on something; a belief is an opinion or conviction.

Six system considerations

A system can be examined through eligibility, program goals, benefits, service delivery, cost analysis, and financing.

Residual approach

Provides organized public help mainly when family and the marketplace fail; emphasizes emergencies, individual behavior, and personal responsibility.

Blaming the victim

Explains a social problem by blaming the individual rather than examining broader social causes.

Social control and elite power

Social control theory views welfare as a tool to influence the poor; elite-power theory argues a small group dominates policy.

Incrementalism

A policy-making approach in which policy develops through small changes to existing policies.

Street-level bureaucrats

Frontline workers at the lowest levels of a system who exert substantial influence over how policy is implemented, such as social workers.

Early English poor relief

Measures like the Statute of Artificers (1563) and Poor Relief Act (1572) sought to reduce vagabondage through compulsory labor and wage limits.

The 1929 stock market crash

On Black Tuesday, massive losses contributed to bread lines and soup kitchens, highlighting that anyone can become poor.

Historical change and social welfare policy

Historical events and economic shocks change how problems are understood, build support for solutions, and create opportunities for legislation.

Poverty threshold and standard of need

The poverty threshold is a federal dollar amount measure. A standard of need is an amount someone must fall below to qualify for a benefit.

Who is affected by poverty?

Groups include the working poor, single-mother families, people of color, and people experiencing homelessness; children are the largest poor group.

Anti-poverty programs and assistance forms

Programs aim to reduce poverty through cash, direct in-kind services, and commodity vouchers.

SSI and EITC

SSI provides federal cash to low-income older adults, blind, or disabled individuals. EITC supplements low-wage workers through the tax system.

Housing assistance

Public housing provides low-rent homes; under Section 8, participants pay 30% of their income for rental assistance.

Social welfare policy

An organized response—or lack of response—to a social issue.

Policy analysis

Assessment of whether a social welfare system achieves its goal of meeting social needs.

Why study social welfare

It helps people question, advocate, make decisions, plan, lead, and inform clients while understanding various system roles.

Institutional approach

Treats social programs as a normal part of society and emphasizes prevention and collective responsibility.

Second-order blaming the victim

Calling a client 'non-compliant' when an outside barrier, such as lack of transportation, prevents participation.

Social values, economics, and professional roles

Schlesinger described cycles between individualism and social responsibility roughly every 30 years, linking policy to economic conditions and worker advocacy.

Window of opportunity

A moment when the timing is favorable for making a public decision or advancing policy.

Stakeholders, politics, and power

Stakeholders are actors interested in policy; politics involves group organization for needs; power is the ability to influence through rewards, punishment, or propaganda.

Elizabethan Poor Laws

The 1601 laws established ideas including worthy versus unworthy poor, family responsibility first, residency restrictions, and time-limited assistance.

The New Deal

Launched after FDR's 1932 election, pursuing Relief, Recovery, and Reform through programs like Social Security, WPA, and infrastructure projects.

Poverty

An economic condition lacking enough to meet basic needs; disagreement over what counts as 'enough' makes its definition controversial.

Poverty guidelines

Federal figures updated each year and used to determine eligibility for certain benefits or services.

Causes of poverty

Human capital, unfortunate circumstances, macroeconomics, race/discrimination/segregation, dependency, and lack of political power.

AFDC and TANF

AFDC provided temporary cash to families with dependent children; TANF (1996) has no guaranteed aid and limits assistance to five cumulative years.

SNAP and school meals

SNAP helps eligible people buy food with food choice flexibility; school lunch programs provide free or reduced-price meals.

General assistance and relief

A state-level effort to assist poor, single, able-bodied adults under age 65 who may not fit other categories.