Social Welfare 553

Seminar in Contemporary Social Welfare Policy

Winter, 2007

Thursdays 9:30-12:20, SSW 125

Gunnar Almgren

Office SSW 127L, hours by appointment

(206) 685-4077, mukboy@u.washington.edu

Seminar Description

This is the second course in a series of doctoral seminars on social policy required of all first year students in the Social Welfare doctoral program. This course provides a critical review of contemporary American income maintenance and related social welfare policies, and the economic, political, and social factors that affect their development, implementation, effectiveness, unintended consequences, and latent functions.

Core General Topics:

The Structure and Functions of the Welfare State(s) in Comparative Perspective

The Major Entitlements and Regulatory Functions of the American Welfare State

Immigration, Economic Assimilation, and the Social Welfare Policy

Embedded Dimensions of Stratification and Social Welfare Policy: Race, Class and Gender

Age Effects on Income Security: Children and Social Welfare Policy

Age Effects on Income Security: Workers and Labor Force Policy

Age Effects on Income Security: The Aged and Social Welfare Policy

The Intergenerational Transmission of Relative Advantage and Social Welfare Policy

The Distribution of Health and Health Care and Social Welfare Policy

Indigenous Peoples and Social Welfare Policy

The Demography of the Family and Social Welfare Policy

Disability over the Life Course and Social Welfare Policy

Seminar Format

For the most part, seminar time will be equally divided between lecture/discussion pertaining to specific policies and programs and related discussion, and more informal discussion based on core readings.

Readings

Essential background reading, ideally to be completed by week three of the seminar:

Theda Skocpol. Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States. Harvard Univ. Press: 1992

Piven and Cloward. Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare. Vintage Books Edition: 1993

Collateral weekly readings:

Weekly readings will be a combination of chapters from the core text, and selection of articles, book chapters and reports available on e-reserves*. Other than the background reading recommended to be completed during the first week of the course, book chapters and other source readings will range from 100-125 pages per week. The core text for the course is:

Michael Katz. The Price of Citizenship: Redefining the American Welfare State. Holt: 2001.

Note: All three books extensively utilized in this course can be obtained in very reasonably priced softcover editions.

*e-reserves for the seminar can be accessed via your MYUW link, and then clicking on the course listing. The direct URL for the course e-reserves are:

 
https://eres.lib.washington.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=5251&page=docs

Assignments

There are two components of evaluation in this course. The first is the student’s contribution to a seminar discourse that is lively, inclusive, grounded in the course readings and related literature, and is analytically sophisticated. Evaluation of each student’s contribution will be based on:

1) Presentation a synopsis and critique of readings pertaining to a specific aspect of contemporary social welfare policy (e.g. the intersect between reproductive behavior and means tested income subsidy).

2) Engagement in seminar discussions in the participant role.

This component comprises 40 percent of the course grade.

The second component of evaluation for this course, comprising 60 percent of the course grade, is a major policy paper that develops and enhances each student’s foundation in the political philosophy of social welfare policy, as well as the capacity to provide an informed and intellectually sophisticated critique of contemporary social welfare policy as it has evolved in the U.S.

The paper has three required parts:

Part 1 –The synopsis of a theoretical framework that explicates the nature of the social contract and political citizenship in the United States, both as intended by the framers of the Constitution and as it has since evolved, and the specific claims, entitlements, and reciprocal obligations pertaining to individual welfare that are logically derivative.

Part 2 –A critique of the institutional structure of the contemporary welfare state in the U.S., based upon the theoretical framework developed in Part 1 of the paper.

Part 3 –An abbreviated historical analysis that identifies the various critical events of history and social forces that in large part explains the consistencies and disconnects identified in Part 2 of the paper.

One way to think about this paper is the essential content for a series of three lectures on contemporary social welfare policy you might someday be teaching, or alternatively, the opening chapter of a book you might someday write on contemporary social welfare policy. This suggests that each part of the paper should be no more than ten pages in length. The due date for the paper is Wednesday March 14^th at 5:00 PM.

Schedule of Seminar Topics and Readings

January 4	The Structure and Functions of the Welfare State in Comparative Perspective- European Convergence and American Exceptionalism
Policy Focus:	The Federalist Structure of Social Welfare
Readings: Katz, Chapter 1 James Madison (1788) Federalist Papers No. 45

January 11	Age Effects on Income Security: Workers, Labor Markets, and Labor Force Policy
Policy Focus:	NLRA/FLSA/OSHA
Readings: Katz, Chapter 2 Smeeding and Phillips. Cross-National Differences in Employment and Economic Sufficiency. Annals of the American Academy of Political Science. 2002 580: 103-133.

January 18	Age Effects on Income Security: Children and Social Welfare Policy
Policy Focus:	AFDC/TANF/EITC
Readings: Katz, Chapter 3 Jennifer L Romich. Difficult Calculations: Low-Income Workers and Marginal Tax Rates Social Service Review. Mar 2006. Vol. 80, Iss. 1; p. 27-68

January 25	The Demography of the Family and Social Welfare Policy
Policy Focus:	Fertility Control, Marriage and Support Enforcement
Readings: Katz, Chapter 4 Moore, K.A., S.M. Jekielek, and C. Emig. 2002. “Marriage from a Child's Perspective: How Does Family Structure Affect Children, and What Can We Do about It?” Child Trends Brief No. 2002-32 Parke, M. 2003. “Are Married Parents Really Better for Children? What Research Says About the Effects of Family Structure on Child Well-Being.” CLASP Policy Brief 3 (May). Washington, DC. Center for Law and Social Policy. McLanahan, S. 2004. “Diverging Destinies: How Children Are Faring Under the Second Demographic Transition.” Demography 41(4) (November)”607-627. Adam Thomas and Isabel Sawhill. 2002. “For Richer or for Poorer: Marriage as an Antipoverty Strategy.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 21: 587-599. Fragile Families. 2003. “Barriers to Marriage among Fragile Families.” Fragile Families Research Briefs 16 (May). Meyer, D.R., M. Cancian, and S. Cook. 2005. “Multiple Partners Fertility: Incidence and Implications for Child Support Policy.” Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Paper No. 1300-1305 (May). Gottschalk, McLanahan, and Sandefur.1994. The Dynamics and Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty and Welfare." In Confronting Poverty (edited by Danziger, Sandefur, andWeinberg). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

February 1	Age Effects on Income Security: The Aged and Social Welfare Policy
Policy Focus:	Social Security-OAA/Medicare/ERISA Pension Provisions
Readings: Katz, Chapters 6& 9 Burman et al. Policy Challenges Posed by the Aging of America. The Urban Institute May 1998: 1-25. Vladeck (1999). The Political Economy of Medicare. Health Affairs 18 (1): 22-36. Feldstein. Structural Reform of Social Security. Journal of Economic Perspectives 19 (2) Spring 2005: 33-55.

February 8	The Distribution of Health and Health Care and Social Welfare Policy
Policy Focus:	Medicaid/SCHIP/ERISA Health Care Benefits Provisions
Readings: Link and Phelan. Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease. Journal of Health and Social Behavior; 1995: 80-94. Banks, Marmot, Oldfield, and Smith. Disease and Disadvantage in the United States and in England. JAMA, May 3, 2006, 295, (17): 2037-2045. Stuber and Kronebusch. Stigma and Other Determinants of Participation in TANF and Medicaid. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 23, No. 3, 509–530 (2004)

February 15	The Distribution of Health and Health Care and Social Welfare Policy
Policy Focus:	Prospects and Alternatives for Health Care Reform
Readings: Katz, Chapter 10 Berggren. Unexpected Necessities — Inside Charity Hospital. New England Journal of Medicine 2005, 353 (15):1550-1553. Quadagno. Why the United States Has No National Health Insurance: Stakeholder Mobilization Against the Welfare State, 1945–1996. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 2004, Vol 45 (Extra Issue): 25–44 Nichols et al. Are Market Forces Strong Enough To Deliver Efficient Health Care Systems? Confidence Is Waning. Health Affairs, 2004 23 (2): 8-21. Almgren. (2006). Competing Agendas for Health Care Reform: A Social Justice Critique. Health Care Politics, Policy, and Services. NY: Springer.

February 22	Disability over the Life Course and Social Welfare Policy
Policy Focus:	SSD/SSI/ADA/Olmstead
Readings: Katz, Chapters 7&8 DeLeire, Thomas. 2000. "The Wage and Employment Effects of the Americans with Disabilities Act." Journal of Human Resources 35(4):693-715. Block, Balcazar and Keys. Race, poverty and disability: three strikes and you're out! Or are you? Social Policy 33 (1) (Fall 2002): 34-39. Martin and Davies. Changes in the demographic and economic characteristics of SSI and DI beneficiaries between 1984 and 1999. Social Security Bulletin 65 (2) (Summer 2003): 1-13. Vladeck. Where The Action Really Is: Medicaid And The Disabled. Health Affairs, 22 (1) (2003): 90-100.

March 1	Immigration, Economic Assimilation, and the Social Welfare Policy
Policy Focus:	INA/IRCA and Welfare Reform
Readings: Katz, Chapters 5, 11 Kymlicka and Banting. Immigration, multiculturalism, and the welfare state. Ethics & International Affairs 20 (3) (Dec 2006): 281-305. Phillips, Massey and Parrado.The new era of Mexican migration to the United States.(Rethinking History and the Nation-State: Mexico and the United States as a Case Study). Journal of American History 86 (2) (Sept 1999): 518-533. Van Hook, J. 2003 "Welfare Reform: Chilling Effects on Non-Citizens: Changes in Non-Citizen Welfare Recipiency or Shifts in Citizenship Status?" Social Science Quarterly, 84(3):613-631. *Portes, Ferna´ndez-Kelly and Haller. Segmented assimilation on the ground: The new second generation in early adulthood. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 28 (6) November 2005: 1000-1040. *Optional, highly recommended for those less familiar with segmented assimilation theory.

March 8	Indigenous Peoples and Social Welfare Policy
Policy Focus:	Indian Self-Determination Act/Indian Child Welfare Act/Indian Health Care Improvement Act
Readings: Katz, Chapter 12 & Epilogue Kersey. Buffalo tiger, Bobo Dean, and the "Young Turks": A Miccosukee prelude to the 1975 Indian Self-Determination Act. American Indian Culture and Research Journal 29 (1) (Winter 2005): p1-19. Cross. Indian Family Exception Doctrine: Still Losing Children Despite the Indian Child Welfare Act. Child Welfare; Jul/Aug 2006; 85 (4): 671-690. Limb, Chance and Brown. An empirical examination of the Indian Child Welfare Act and its impact on cultural and familial preservation for American Indian children. Child Abuse and Neglect 28 (2) (Dec 2004): 1279-1290. Kunitz. The History and Politics of US Health Care Policy for American Indians and Alaskan Natives. American Journal of Public Health. Oct 1996, 86 (10): 1464-1473