The Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy

The Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy reinvented the standard social welfare policy text to speak to students in a vital new way. As we enter a new political era, the third edition deploys its distinctive model of how policies develop to include an analysis of the social policy initiatives of the Obama administration. With more graphics, updated charts, sidebars to highlight main points, and definitions of all of the major policy terms, this third edition is the text that best explains the evolution of U.S. social policy from a conservative to a more progressive era.

The book begins by discussing how social problems are constructed. After an analysis of social welfare policy, its purposes, and functions, a unique policy model bolsters the text's overarching progressive narrative. Through this model, students learn how five key social forces-ideology, politics, history, economics, and social movements-interact both to create and to change the social welfare system. By applying this model to five critical social welfare policy issues-income security, employment, housing, health, and food-the text demonstrates to students that every kind of social work practice embodies a social welfare policy. The model is also telling in identifying the triggers of social change and the effects of race, class, and gender.

By applying the policy model to the latest developments in social welfare, the chapter-long case studies in this third edition equip students with knowledge about social welfare policy and the tools for comparative analysis. With this knowledge, students begin to understand that both the whole and the parts of the social welfare system affect what they actually do as social workers.

The Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy, Third Edition captures the fluidity and change inherent in social policy like no other textbook. Its approach remains the most invigorating, forward-thinking one available. Highlights from this edition include:

* The most recent information on the Obama administration's policy initiatives
* Revised data in text, charts, and graphs show how government policies are proving the points made throughout the chapters
* Exhaustive statistics are included about every major social program's budget, benefits, and participants
* Key words section at the end of each chapter explains basic policy terminology
* Sidebars, graphics, and study questions highlight the main points and ensure that every student understands the fundamental concepts in social welfare policy
* Content and writing style are appropriate to both bachelor's- and master's-level programs

Joel Blau, DSW, is Professor of Social Policy at the School of Social Welfare, Stony Brook University.

Mimi Abramovitz, DSW, is Bertha Capen Reynolds Professor of Social Policy, Hunter College School of Social Work and The Graduate Center, City University of New York.