Assignment Prompt & Instructions
**Prepare a three-page (double-spaced) book review of the course textbook for social workers and policy professionals.**
Prepare a three-page (double-spaced) review of the course textbook intended for social workers and other policy professionals. Identify major issues and themes from the book that are important to social workers who are intentional in supporting social welfare and social justice. Determine which issue(s) and theme(s) you want to focus on in your review and connect these with current and/or past social welfare policies and programs.
This is not a book report: your review is an evaluation of the book and its value to policymakers, not just a summary.
These questions can help develop your review:
• What does policy mean in people's lives? How might their lives be different with or without a particular policy? What do the case studies you explored in this course tell us about our society?
• Which themes from the book excite you and/or draw an emotional response? What is the emotional heart or focus of the book?
• What are some main arguments of the book? If the writer wanted you to take away one idea from the book, what would it be? o What issues were raised that were left unaddressed?
• How has the book helped you understand this subject? Would you recommend this book? o Why should policymakers care about this book?
• How does this book guide social workers and other policymakers?
The structure of the review is up to you, but you must give each section of your 3-page-paper a title/subheading that tells us what that particular section will discuss.
Tips for writing your book review:
Keep summary sections brief; share the important issues, themes, and argument you have identified rather than retelling the entire book. Avoid using direct quotations from the book (unless it's the phrase or idea so essential that it can't be conveyed with other words). Instead, use your own words to distill and paraphrase themes, ideas, people, settings, or events. This will require some more effort on your part but your words matter! Along with the summary section, you can also share important details from the book as evidence to support your claims and conclusions.
To receive full credit, papers must be written and formatted in correct APA 7% style. This
includes font, margins, spacing, capitalization, indentation, page numbers, headers, citations, references, and properly removing the extra space between paragraphs inserted by Microsoft Word and other programs. Please refer to the APA links below for details and examples.
Responses to all components are essential to receiving the best possible score on papers. Please read your responses/submissions carefully before submitting.
## **Part I. Policy Analysis: Frameworks and Tools**
### **Introduction**
© Neil Orloff. Courtesy Art Access Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah
Solidarity and justice go hand in hand.
**Social justice** is central to social work practice. But what is it? This is the focus of Part I, which moves from a broad theoretical consideration of social justice, through the role of government as a vehicle for promoting social justice, to the application of a social justice framework in policy practice. [Chapter 1](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_01_opener?#null) reviews **modern** and **postmodern** approaches to defining this surprisingly elusive concept. Processes and components of justice are considered, and the link between justice and **human rights** is introduced. The chapter then examines three philosophical conceptions of social justice. Understanding these divergent perspectives will strengthen your analytic skills, enabling you to recognize the assumptions underlying other people’s arguments and to frame your own arguments in terms more likely to persuade. Following a brief discussion of inequality, the chapter explores the role of social work in America’s pursuit of social justice and introduces Bertha Capen Reynolds, a 20th-century policy practitioner. Government is an important vehicle for defining and promoting social justice. [Chapter 2](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_02_opener?#null) examines the philosophical perspectives of political parties and offers a general description of the structure and processes of the U.S. government and an introduction to **privatization**. [Chapter 2](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_02_opener?#null) provides a brief introduction to the nation’s tax system that considers not only the mechanics but also the philosophical assumptions that drive the system. For some readers, this chapter will be a review, but for most it offers new insights and useful reference material. [Chapter 3](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_03_opener?#null) turns to policy practice skills, focusing on analysis and advocacy strategies. The chapter presents a brief definition of policy practice followed by an extensive discussion of policy analysis that addresses advocacy and empowerment, drawing upon advice and experiences of advocates throughout the country. [Chapter 3](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_03_opener?#null) closes with the ethical issues and legal considerations that influence policy practice.
## **Part II. Collective Responses to Social Problems**
### **Introduction**
© Neil Orloff, Courtesy Art Access Gallery, Salt Lake City
Must we face problems alone?
Problems come in many forms. In the early stages of intellectual development, our problems are intensely personal and we have a limited ability to empathize with other people’s troubles. As we mature, we develop the capacity to view adversity from diverse perspectives and to empathize with others.
In this section, we will consider two approaches to understanding social problems. The first, developed by Abram de Swaan, a professor of social sciences at the University of Amsterdam, examines the conditions necessary for personal problems to be treated as social problems (de Swaan, 1988). Once this happens, policy serves as a vehicle for organizing collective action. The point here is not to evaluate policy but to determine when it might be mobilized to address a particular problem.
#### **Box II.1.** John Snow’s Map
In 1854, London’s Soho neighborhood was subject to a sudden outbreak of cholera. At the time, many believed the disease was caused by “miasma” in the air. John Snow, now a hero to epidemiologists (and Londoners), painstakingly developed a map that showed the residences of people who suffered (and usually died) from cholera. This map has been recreated by Robin Wilson at Southampton University, and it clearly shows cases clustered around a water pump on Broad Street. Further research revealed the pump was contaminated by a cesspool where a cholera-infested diaper had been dumped. Snow’s accomplishment is commemorated in true London style, with a pub named after him on the site where the pump used to be.
Courtesy of the John Snow Society
The second approach, **social problem analysis**, begins where the first leaves off. It examines the values and beliefs that shape our understanding of social problems. One of the best examples of this approach was developed by Donald Chambers, a social work professor at the University of Kansas (Chambers, 2000). His method offers a great way to understand the underlying rationale for social policies.
### **Predicting Collective Action**
During the Paleolithic era, humans banded together to hunt mammoths. In the 20th century, they paid Social Security taxes. Since the dawn of our species, humans have used collective action to meet personal needs, but no human society responds collectively to every personal problem. How can we determine whether a problem can or should be addressed collectively?
Abram de Swaan (1988) identified three conditions that facilitate collective solutions to personal adversity. First, the **external effects** of the adversity must be recognized. One person’s suffering must affect another, and the “other” must recognize that effect. Second, **individual remedies** must be of limited effectiveness. Attempts by individuals to escape the external effects or to avoid the problem must prove ineffective. Finally, when adversity and/or its external effects can strike at any time with unpredictable magnitude ( **uncertainty of moment and magnitude**), collective responses are more likely. The development of modern plumbing serves as an excellent example.
In the 19th century, cholera epidemics devastated many European cities. The 1832 wave of cholera took 18,000 victims in England and a comparable number in Paris. Nineteenth-century scientists quickly linked the infection to lack of fresh water and inadequate sewage removal. Those who could apply individual solutions (the rich) removed themselves to healthier (usually higher) quarters; but the disease was rampant among the poor and began to invade the quarters of the rich. As de Swaan notes, “Mass epidemics provided a striking image of interdependency between fellow city-dwellers, poor and rich, established and newcomers, ignorant and cultivated alike” (p. 124). As the failure of individual solutions became evident, there was widespread agreement that a collective approach was in order.
Experts decided that citywide sanitation systems were the best solution, although they would be disruptive and expensive. Initially, sewer lines were installed in wealthy neighborhoods and financed through what we now call user or connection fees. As soon as wealthy neighborhoods were saturated with pipes, the “venous-arterial system” of sanitation networks was extended throughout the city—a “public good” supported by compulsory taxes and fees. Sanitation departments were established to collect fees and maintain the systems.
Thus, modern plumbing, the collective approach to supplying fresh water and removing sewage, developed because of the external effects of the adversity experienced by the poor (the wealthy were exposed to cholera), the failure of individual remedies (moving to higher ground did not protect against the disease), and uncertainty regarding the moment and magnitude of adversity (one never knew whether, when, or how badly one might be affected by the disease).
The problems discussed in Part II are shared, to various degrees, by all Americans. Each meets de Swaan’s three criteria for collective action (external effects are recognized, individual remedies are of limited effectiveness, and there is uncertainty of moment and magnitude), and each of these problems has mobilized governmental action to allocate benefits and resources. As a result, progress toward social justice has been achieved through collective action in the form of government policies and programs.
### **Social Problem Analysis**
Social problem analysis helps us understand the nature of collective responses to problems. It has four key components: problem definition, causal analysis, identification of ideology and values, and consideration of winners and losers. Here, we will use the example of unemployment to clarify these concepts.
**Problem definition** begins with the premise that social problems are important problems. Their importance may be a function of two things: the status of the people experiencing or observing the problem and the sheer number of individuals affected by the problem. Often social workers begin to define a problem by describing the affected population. We might go further and consider their demographic features and historic trends.
In the case of unemployment, we might begin with a description of who, exactly, we will consider unemployed. Because the Department of Labor regularly monitors the number of people who fit its definition of “unemployed,” it is relatively easy to say whether the problem is increasing or decreasing. As you might expect, when the number of people experiencing a problem is increasing, it is easier to identify it as an important social problem. A concern for social justice might lead us to focus on groups, such as youth, older adults, and people of color, who are more vulnerable to unemployment than others.
In the United States, people who are not actively looking for work are not officially considered unemployed. Some dispute the government’s definition, arguing that workers who have become too discouraged to search for a job should be counted among the unemployed. Generally, these people seek to make the case that unemployment is important—possibly more important than the government would have us believe.
**Causal analysis** in social policy differs from research designed to identify causes. In social policy analysis, we are less interested in objective reality than in public perceptions. The question is not “What causes this problem?” but “What do key participants in policy development believe causes the problem?” Of course, good research should never be disregarded. Responsible policy makers should be aware of research into the causes of a social problem. But _social policy analysis must acknowledge pervasive beliefs that lack scientific foundation_. Beliefs about causes influence the design of social policies and programs to address problems. In fact, it is sometimes interesting to go backward in this analysis by looking at the specifics of a policy or program and deciphering what they imply about the perceived causes of the problem.
**Identifying ideology and values** embedded in popular definitions of social problems is an interesting exercise in itself. In [Part I](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_01_opener?#null), we saw how values can influence social policies. As professionals, our challenge is to bring these hidden assumptions into the open for public examination and dialog. It is sometimes hard to distinguish what we know from what we believe. Values that serve as the basis for social policies generally reflect judgments about how people should or should not behave. So the official definition of unemployment reflects the core American belief that hard work and persistence will result in success. From this perspective, someone who gives up on finding a job must be deficient and unworthy of consideration. An advocate might challenge this belief by documenting and sharing the experiences of workers who have become discouraged and given up the job hunt.
As Chambers (2000) noted, some people benefit from social problems, and these “winners” can become obstacles when social workers try to ameliorate the problem. Returning to our case example, major employers might appreciate a large pool of potential workers. It strengthens their ability to negotiate wage cuts and reduces the cost of discharging an employee. _Consideration of both winners and losers_ enhances problem analysis. Beyond this, our description of losers should expand beyond those directly affected by the problem. Clearly, unemployment affects the unemployed workers and their families. But the risk of unemployment can also affect working conditions for those who are employed. It might also affect the tax base of local communities, limiting resources available for services.
### **About Parts II and III**
It may be helpful to clarify the organizational structure of this book. [Part II](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_02_opener?#null) focuses on social problems that have been addressed through collective action, while [Part III](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_03_opener?#null) turns to vulnerable populations. Some may ask, “Aren’t people living in poverty, experiencing mental illness, or suffering from physical illness _vulnerable_?” and “Don’t the vulnerable populations discussed in [Part III](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_03_opener?#null) have _problems_?” Apart from that, don’t these problems and vulnerabilities intersect? Certainly. But there is also an underlying rationale.
The problems addressed in [Part II](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_02_opener?#null) are risks that most Americans share. With some qualifications, _anyone_ could experience poverty, mental illness, physical sickness, disability, or crime. By contrast, the populations discussed in [Part III](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_03_opener?#null) are vulnerable because of personal characteristics that are not shared throughout the population. Their vulnerability is typically the direct result of oppression and discrimination. These constructs are introduced in greater depth in the introduction to [Part III](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_03_opener?#null), as is the concept of intersectionality.
With some exceptions, the policy approach to broadly distributed risks examined in [Part II](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_02_opener?#null) differs from that used to protect the vulnerable populations discussed in [Part III](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_03_opener?#null). Social insurance programs are typically designed to distribute shared risks among members of society, while corrective policies such as civil rights laws or affirmative action are usually designed to eliminate the oppression of vulnerable populations.
### **Part II Content**
[Part II](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_02_opener?#null) begins by exploring the framework that defines our nation’s collective response to many social problems: the **Social Security Act**. This is the focus of [Chapter 4](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_04_opener?#null). Then, we will trace the development of policies and programs to address four social problems: poverty ( [Chapter 5](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_05_opener?#null)), physical illness ( [Chapter 6](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_06_opener?#null)), mental illness ( [Chapter 7](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_07_opener?#null)), disability ( [Chapter 8](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_08_opener?#null)), and crime ( [Chapter 9](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_ch_09_opener?#null)). In each case, society’s collective response can be traced to the conditions that de Swaan identified: external effects, failure of individual remedies, and uncertainty of the moment and magnitude of adversity. And in each case, our understanding is informed by the four analytic components that Chambers described: problem definition, causal analysis, identification of ideology and values, and consideration of winners and losers. Each chapter will focus on a specific type of problem, beginning from a human perspective with a case study and then examining definitional issues, the history of policies and services, and emerging policy issues. Each chapter includes the background material necessary for students to apply the policy frameworks presented in [Part I](https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/02f176fd-66c6-4088-9e8b-9b67ed330c21/page/content-bd_part_01_opener?#null) to emerging issues in the field
– a year ago