Lecture 1 Which principle of the English Poor Laws are the roots of current social policies in the US Poor are labeled as worthy and unworthy Social welfare is a public responsibility o Women children old and disabled are worthy o Abled body are unworthy because they could work but aren t so they can be put to work and won t be poor Indoor and outdoor relief o Going into the home and helping them Mother supporting child and going into the home and giving the mother food o Or providing structure from the outside of the house Provide jobs Factories Principle of less eligibility o Help people who are poor but will not pay them enough so that it wouldn t discourage from getting a job o Ultimate goal is for them to still go into the workforce o Will not pay the same as a job would Principle of wage supplementation o Link the poor people up with those who can hire them o But will not ask employers to pay full wage because then they have no incentive to hire the poor and the government will pay the rest Example employers paying 5 instead of 7 20 and government would supplement the other 2 20 Wanted to reduce the number of strangers who come in and out of the community o Shiftless vagrants don t have job and need to give them job Wanted to maintain productive workforce for employment changes in changing economy Work house Assumption we have to change the problem people 2 What are the differences between residual and institutional approaches to social welfare Residual o Temporary and stigmatized safety net people have to admit they are struggling which is hard to do o Targeted means tested services Targeted at particular group of people Means tested testing how much access they have and once they do they see if eligible for the services o Advantages Only helping those who need it Not wasting means on those who can provide for Institutional themselves o Social welfare as a right of citizenship o Universal services Everyone getting public education Systems where families get a certain amount of money per kid rich and poor Not matter how much money you make you get money for kids o Advantages No discrimination Popular because everyone gets it Residual or Institutional in US o Public education institutional o Food stamps SNAP residual o Family Medical Leave Act FMLA institutional o Affordable care act institutional o Social security institutional o Earned income credit EITC most effective anti poverty residual supplements wages of working families without stigma o Child support enforcement institutional o Child support enforcement institutional o Unemployment insurance residual 3 Define the four eras of social welfare in the US and identify major policies associated with each era Progressive Era 1890 1930 o Themes Poverty as environmental o Development of social work as a field By Jane Adams Go into communities and work to change the communities with education religion and American values and virtues o Seeds of welfare state Workers compensation Employer liability Pension for widows New Deals 1930 1960 o Massive change that forms a safety net o Themes Government assistance required Theses are still here and being debated Seed change o Reforms address poverty Social security Work progress administration Civilian conservation corps range of public jobs in rural areas like laying electricity and telephone jobs building post offices etc Bank reform War on poverty 1960 1980 o Themes Need to intervene in the Other American Need to do something o Policies o Head start Economic opportunity Act Help neighborhoods Panel of experts in child development Give the kids a head start o Job corps o Food stamps o Themes Ownership Society 1980 2008 Expand personal responsibility Government should step back and people should help themselves The programs are creating poverty Shrink federal programs o Policies o Clinton Reagan cuts Welfare reform Homeland security Taking out reform that is trapping them 4 How does the current funding structure of public schools reflect traditional values of local control and how does the structure lead to inequality in funding The Next New Deal 2009 present o Themes Things changed with the recession and the new tone of how to address these Shrinking of middle class People losing jobs A lot of assistance needed Saying for them to step up and take ownership wasn t working anymore Government assistance required How much What s too much What s enough Support for families and communities Government needs to help when economy cannot Policies Health care and education Wall street bailout Infrastructure and job creation o Spending 2009 Aid to individuals Aid to states Education job training Energy Environment Health Housing Other rural assistance Science and research Tax cuts for businesses Tax cuts for individuals Transportation Unemployment Infrastructure o Obama Budgets Increase in inequality since 1980s Each family in the bottom 80 of the income distribution was effectively spending 10 000 check every year to the top 1 earners Budget reverses the rapid increase in economic inequality over the last 30 years first by rewriting the tax ode and over the longer term by trying to solve some bug causes of the middle class income slowdown like high medical costs and slowing educational gains 5 How extensive are funding gaps by race and by class both per student and per school in a given year US is the only major nation in developed world with educational inequalities Value of local control over education o Unique to the US Funding structure o Local government 48 State government 45 Federal government 7 Inequality in funding o Value of neighborhood school o Value of local control over education o Value of freedom from state control Debating differences in race or class Or both How is this related to isolation inequality and exodus from Board vs Brown 1954 communities Segregate resegregate o Courts order change over combat segregation in school o American public schools are now 12 years into process of continuous segregation and the proportion of black students in majority white schools has decreased Change in funding structure o Path 1 cases in state courts o Path 2 policy change at state level Redistribute money from suburbs Increase spending in cities o States have limited remedies o Federal government has limited remedies 2007 funding gaps o Comparing high to low minority districts On average states spend 614 less on minority students In 30 49 states high minority districts receive less