THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
COURSE NO. & SECTION:
SOWO 530 (Section 003)
COURSE TITLE &YEAR:
Foundations of Social Welfare & Social Work
Fall Semester 2012
MEETING TIME:
Fridays 9:00 – 11:50 am
INSTRUCTOR:
Laurie Selz Campbell, MS, CPRP
Tate Turner Kuralt Bldg. Room 354
Phone: 843-6394
lauriesc@unc.edu
OFFICE HOURS:
Tuesdays 12:30 – 1:30 and by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Introduces public welfare policy through lecture and discussion of the
purposes of public welfare and describes the most important programs created by those policies.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: By the end of this course, students will:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Demonstrate knowledge of current social welfare policies and programs in the U.S.
and the ideals which shaped existing public welfare structures;
Identify and describe the social concerns which those structures have or have not been
able to address successfully. Special attention will be given to their impact on various
family types.
Demonstrate an understanding of the role of social work and effects of social policy on
historic and contemporary patterns of social welfare service provision;
Rigorously evaluate existing research related to social welfare policy and demonstrate
knowledge of the development and implementation of contemporary social welfare
policy;
Demonstrate an understanding of the values and ethics of social work that guide
professional behavior in the conduct of public policy activities;
Demonstrate skill in strategies for advocacy and social change that advance social and
economic justice;
Identify conditions that promote or deter equal access to resources for minorities and
women and be able to discuss concerns related to race, disability, gender and sexual
orientation.
SKILLS BASE ADDRESSED: By the end of the course, students will be able to:
1. Describe the origins and unique characteristics of the social work profession.
2. Assess clients for eligibility for major publicly funded programs and/or benefits.
3. Analyze the effects of social welfare policies on well-being and opportunities for lowerincome individuals and families, as well as for other vulnerable populations.
4. Articulate the underlying values and principles shaping major public welfare policies.
5. Describe how legislative and administrative policy is made and how to influence policy
development.
TEXT:
Blau, J. & Abramovitz, M. (2010). Dynamics of social welfare policy. Oxford University Press.
(Blau in syllabus)
Additional required readings will be posted on Sakai.
TEACHING METHODS AND EXPECTATIONS:
Teaching methods will include lecture and class discussion, multimedia presentations, and
small group activities. My perspective is that we all have much to learn AND much to teach.
Full participation is essential to your learning in the class, and will allow you to successfully
apply the course material in a way that is personally and professionally meaningful.
You are expected to attend all classes and to complete the readings before class begins. You
are expected to participate in discussions by sharing information from their reading and/or
field experiences. I ask that you contact me, in advance, if you will miss a class. Any student
with significant difficulty with these requirements should speak with me at the beginning of
the semester so that alternative forms of contribution can be identified.
POLICIES ON THE USE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN THE CLASSROOM:
I expect that we will all be invested in creating a learning environment of respect and
engagement. During class, cell phones should be turned off or silenced. I welcome the use of
laptops in class for taking notes or completing small group tasks. However, I ask that you use
them only for relevant activities – not for checking email or surfing the Web. If distracting
use of electronics is observed, I will need to strictly limit their use to specific times during
class. Your attention during class time is an important sign of respect to your colleagues, and
an important part of your learning.
OVERVIEW OF COURSE ASSIGNMENTS:
Social Construction Paper
Due Sept. 28
This 4-5 page paper will assess your integration of readings, class discussions, and personal
thinking about some of the conceptual and historical issues addressed in the early part of the
course. Specific prompts and a rubric will be provided.
Budget Exercise
Due Oct. 26
This exercise is intended to help you learn more about the struggles and dilemmas that
families face to meet their basic needs and the public and private sector resources that may be
available to them. You will be provided with a story of a fictional family living in a North
Carolina county, along with information about their income and other resources. You will
conduct research (abundant resources will be posted on Sakai) to estimate what the family
will require to meet its basic needs, and what sources of assistance are available. You will
enter your information on a Budget Worksheet (to be provided).
Accompanying your worksheet will be a brief (~ 3 page) paper addressing (a) any assumptions
that you made about the family and your rationale for making the decisions that you did, (b)
conclusions about the bottom line, (c) challenges encountered, and (d) learning reflections.
Specific prompts and a rubric will be provided.
Letter to the Editor or Op-Ed Piece
Due Nov. 9
For this assignment, you will identify one social welfare issue from the plethora of issues being
debated in our current election cycle (federal, state, or local). You will then write a letter to
the editor, opinion piece, or blog post addressing the issue. You can make reference to
perspectives articulated by various political candidates, but this is not required. Your
response should include your personal reactions supported by data, and should incorporate
concepts and constructs discussed thus far during the semester. Examples will be provided to
guide your writing.
Team Presentations & Policy Briefs
Due TBA
This assignment will give you the opportunity to develop competence in (a) researching and
analyzing social policy legislation, (b) developing and articulating a position on a given policy,
and (c) designing social work advocacy agendas. The assignment has two parts, summarized
below:
Group Component (Presentation): You will team up with classmates based on
shared interests in social welfare policy issues with significant history, landmark
legislation, continued social injustices, advocacy efforts, & success stories. You will
work in teams to develop a 30-40 minute presentation that:
1. Addresses the evolution of our system’s response to the population
2. Summarizes multiple perspectives on the issue
3. Analyzes key legislation relative to the issue (1 piece of legislation per
student) in terms of underlying assumptions and other factors
4. Describes advocacy efforts, challenges, and successes; and
5. Proposes an action agenda consistent with the NASW Code of Ethics
Individual Component (Policy Brief): You will write a policy brief related to the
piece of legislation that you selected to focus on for your portion of the group
presentation, above. The brief should be factual and evidence-based, and should
clearly articulate a recommendation or position on the issue. We will review
instructional materials and examples to guide you in your process.
Below are brief descriptions of issues on which you might choose to focus for this
assignment (these are very negotiable, depending on students’ interests):
Disability
Examples of issues: Inclusion, equal rights, employment, education
Examples of legislation: ADA, Ryan White, mental health parity, IDEA
Criminal Justice: Focus on Adults
Examples of issues: Racial profiling, sentencing disproportionalities, criminalization of
mental illness &/or homelessness, hate crimes
Examples of legislation: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994);
Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009); syringe exchange policies;
three strikes policies; death penalty; solitary confinement
Criminal Justice: Focus on Youth
Examples of issues: School violence, juvenile sentencing policies
Examples of legislation: Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (2001), drug
policies & student loans, youth tried as adults legislation
Family Violence & Child Welfare
Examples of issues: Child abuse (physical, sexual) & neglect, partner violence,
adoption for LGBTQ families, inter-ethnic adoptions
Examples of legislation: Adoption & Safe Families Act, sex offender registry laws;
Violence Against Women Act; Indian Child Welfare Act
Reproductive Rights & Health
Examples of issues: Abortion; parental consent for abortion, birth control, adoption;
sex education, reproductive rights in the military
Examples of legislation: Abstinence-only education; TANF provisions re: teen parents,
Burris Amendment
Immigration
Examples of issues: Migrant worker policies, health care, education, citizenship,
criminalization, amnesty
Examples of legislation: 287 g; DREAM Act; amnesty/refugee resettlement legislation,
SB 1070 in Arizona
LGBT Issues
Examples of issues: Marriage, partner benefits, power of attorney, child custody,
adoption, bullying & hate crimes, DADT
Examples of legislation: NC Safe Schools Act, Amendment One, specific local policies
re: child custody, adoption, DADT & DOMA
SCORING & GRADING:
Assignments will be scored as follows:
Social Construction Paper
Letter to Editor
Budget Exercise
Policy Brief
Expert Panel Presentation
Meaningful Participation
Total:
15 points
10 points
20 points
20 points
25 points
10 points
100 points
Grades will be assigned as follows:
H:
P:
L:
F:
94 and above
93-80
79-70
69 and below
Expectations for written assignments: You are expected to adhere to appropriate scholarly
writing guidelines and to use APA formatting. A portion of the points for each assignment
will be allocated to writing issues. Please use the resources provided at orientation to help
yourself to master academic writing skills. The web sites listed below provide additional
information:



http://ssw.unc.edu/index.php?q=students/academic/advising (Academic resources
from the School of Social Work, including an APA quick reference guide)
http://www.apastyle.org/apa-style-help.aspx (APA Style basics)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html (general information
about documentation using APA style)
POLICY ON INCOMPLETES AND LATE ASSIGNMENTS:
Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day noted. You must notify me at least 3
days before a due date if you would like to request an extension. If this does not happen, you
will lose 10% of the assignment’s points per day (including weekends, and including the date
on which the assignment was due, if you submit it after the beginning of class).
Incompletes may be granted if (a) there are extreme and unforeseeable circumstances that
affect your ability to complete the semester’s work, and (b) you meet with me in advance to
develop a plan and timeline for completing your work.
POLICY ON ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:
I assume that all students follow the UNC Honor Code. Please ensure that the Honor Code
statement “I have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance in completing this
assignment”, with your signature, is on all assignments turned in. In keeping with the Honor
Code, if reason exists to believe that academic dishonesty has occurred, a referral will be made
to the Office of the Student Attorney General for investigation and further action as required.
Please refer to the APA Style Guide, the SSW Manual, and the SSW Writing Guide for
information on attribution of quotes, plagiarism, and the appropriate use of assistance in
preparing assignments.
POLICY ON ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES:
If you have a disability that affects your participation in the course and you wish to receive
accommodations, you should contact the University’s Disabilities Services. They will then
notify me of the documented disability, and we can meet to design the appropriate
accommodations to support your learning.
CLASS SCHEDULE & READINGS
Date
Topics Addressed
Readings
Week 1
8/24
Welcome & overview
None
Week 2
8/31
NO CLASS –
instructor out of
town
Blau:
Ch. 1: Introduction: Social Problems, Social Policy,
Social Change
Due
Articles/Chapters:
Schneider A & Ingram, H. (1993) Social construction
of target populations: Implications for
politics and policy. The American Political
Science Review 87(2), 334-347.
Thyer, B. A. (2010) Social justice: A conservative
perspective, Journal of Comparative Social
Welfare, 26(2), 261 – 274.
In addition, please go to www.politicalcompass.org
& complete the online inventory
~ AND ~
Complete the political ad assignment (to be
discussed)
Week 3
9/7
Context, Framework
for Exploring Social
Welfare
History to 1900
 English Poor Laws
 Charity
Organization
Societies
 Settlement Houses
Week 4
9/14
Progressive Era
 Industrialization
 Immigration
 Social Darwinism
 Eugenics
 African American
Pioneers
Depression Era
 New Deal
 Social Security Act
Blau:
Ch. 2: Definitions & Functions of Social Welfare
Policy: Setting the Stage for Social Change
Ch. 5: Ideological Perspectives & Conflicts
Ch. 7: Social Welfare History in the United States
Read: pp. 237-257
Articles/Chapters:
Katz, M. (1996). In the shadow of the poorhouse: A
nd
social history of welfare in America (2 ed.).
New York: Basic Books. Read: Chapter 3:
The theory and practice of scientific charity
(pp. 60-87).
Blau:
Ch. 7: Social Welfare History in the United States
Read: pp. 257-271
Articles/Chapters:
Carlton-LaNey, I. (2001). African American
leadership: An empowerment tradition in
social welfare history. Washington, DC:
NASW Press. Read: Chapter 2: African
Americans & social work in Philadelphia, 1900–
1930
Political
Compass
results &
findings from
political ad
assignment
(not to be
turned in – just
used in
discussion)
Date
Topics Addressed
Readings
Due
Park, Y. & Kemp, S. (2006). “Little alien colonies”:
Representations of immigrants and their
neighborhoods in social work discourse, 18751924. Social Service Review, 80(4), 705-734.
Schoen, J. (2011). Reassessing eugenic sterilization:
The case of North Carolina. In P. Lombardo
(Eds.), A Century of Eugenics in America: From
the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome
Era (p. 141-160). Bloomington, IN: Indiana
University Press.
Week 5
9/21




WWII & Postwar
War on Poverty
New Federalism
Welfare Reform
Blau:
Ch. 7: Social Welfare History in the United States
Read: pp. 271-294
Articles/Chapters:
Diller, M. (2001). Form and substance in the
privatization of poverty programs. UCLA Law
Review, 49. 1739-1765.
Linhorst, D. (2002). Federalism and social justice:
implications for social work. Social Work,
47(3), 201-208.
Week 6
9/28
Poverty
 Rates & definitions
 Poverty line &
critiques
 Impact of poverty
Social Welfare
 Major categories
 Major programs
- Social Security
- Medicare
-
TANF
Food assistance
Housing
Medicaid,
Medicare, SSI
- General
assistance
Blau:
Ch. 8: Income Support: Programs & Policies
Ch. 12: Food & Hunger: Programs & Policies
Articles/Chapters:
Abramovitz, M. (2001). Everyone is still on welfare:
The role of redistribution in social policy.
Social Work, 46, 297-308.
Action for Children North Carolina (2011). Children
in the recession (Economic Security Issue
Brief). Read: pp. 4-16.
Blank, R. (2011). The Supplemental Poverty Measure:
A new tool for understanding US poverty.
Pathways, pp. 10-14. Retrieved from
http://www.stanford.edu/group/scspi/media_
magazines.html
Boushey, H. & Weller, C.E. (2005). What the
numbers tell us. In J. Lardner & D.A. Smith
(Eds.), Inequality matters, (pp. 27-40). New
York: The New Press.
Social
Construction
Paper
Date
Topics Addressed
Readings
Week 7
10/5
Critique of Welfare &
Governmental
Response to Poverty
Blau:
Ch. 9: Jobs & Job Training: Programs & Policies
(note: Read the other materials for this week
first – this is lower priority)
Articles/Chapters:
Berlin, G. (2010). Rethinking welfare in the great
recession: Issues in the reauthorization of
Temporary Aid to Needy Families.
Washington, DC: MDRC.
Rank, M. (2011). Rethinking American poverty.
Contexts (10), 16-21.
Rector, R. & Johnson, K. (2004). Understanding
poverty in America. Washington, DC:
Heritage Foundation. Retrieved from
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/
upload/53977_1.pdf
Sawhill, I. (2003). The behavioral aspects of poverty.
The Public Interest (153), 79-93.
Week 8
10/12
Market-Based
Approaches to
Poverty Relief
Articles/Chapters:
Cooney, K. & Shanks, T. R. (2010) New approaches
to old problems: Market‐based strategies for
poverty alleviation. Social Services Review
84(1) 29-56.
Grinstein-Weiss, M., & Irish, K., (2009). Individual
Development Accounts: Frequently asked
questions. Retrieved from
http://csd.wustl.edu/Publications/Documents
/P07-09.pdf
Han, C. & Sherraden, M. (2009). Do institutions
really matter for saving among low-income
households? A comparative approach.
Journal of Socio-Economics, 38, 475-483.
Lim, Y., DeJohn, T., & Murray, D. (2012). Free tax
assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit:
Vital resources for social workers and lowincome families. Social Work (in press).
Shapiro, T. (2004). Assets for equality (pp. 183-204).
In The hidden cost of being African-American:
How wealth perpetuates inequality. New York:
Oxford.
Due
Date
Topics Addressed
10/19
Week 9
10/26
Readings
Due
No class – Fall Break
The Current Health
Care Safety Net
 Healthcare
coverage &
reform
 Health disparities
Blau:
Ch. 11: Health Care: Programs & Policies
Budget
Assignment
Articles/Chapters:
Horton, S. (2006). The double burden on safety net
providers: Placing health disparities in the
context of the privatization of health care in
the US. Social Science & Medicine, 63(10), 27022714.
Keefe, R. H. (2010). Health disparities: A primer for
public health social workers. Social Work in
Public Health, 25(3/4), 237-257.
Woolf, S. H. (2009). Social policy as health policy.
[Opinion]. JAMA: Journal of the American
Medical Association, 301(11), 1166-1169.
Week 10
11/2
The Current Mental
Health & Substance
Abuse Safety Net
 MH reform in
North Carolina
 Intersections
with
homelessness,
criminal justice,
& other safety net
systems
Articles/Chapters:
Baillargeon, J., Hoge, S., & Penn, J. V. (2010).
Addressing the challenge of community
reentry among released inmates with serious
mental illness. American Journal of Community
Psychology, 46(3/4), 361-375.
Newman, S., & Goldman, H. (2008). Putting housing
first, making housing last: housing policy for
persons with severe mental illness. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 165(10), 1242-1248
Scheid, T. L. (2008). Competing institutional
demands: A framework for understanding
mental health policy. Social Theory & Health,
6(4), 291-308.
Week 11
11/9
Social Policy & Policy
Analysis:
 Advocacy
 Informal
policy/street
level bureaucracy
Blau:
Ch. 6: Social Movements & Social Change
Articles/Chapters:
Dickson-Gomez, J., Convey, M., Hilario, H., Corbett,
A., & Weeks, M. (2007). Unofficial policy:
Access to housing, housing information &
social services among homeless drug users in
Hartford, Connecticut. Substance Abuse
Treatment, Prevention, & Policy, 2(8), 1-14.
Faulkner, A., & Lindsey, A. (2004). Grassroots meets
homophobia: A rocky mountain success story.
Letter to
Editor or OpEd Piece
Date
Topics Addressed
Readings
Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services,
16(3/4), 113-128.
Figueira-McDonough, J. (1993). Policy practice: The
neglected side of social work intervention.
Social Work, 38(2), 179-188.
Week 12
11/16
11/23
Week 13
11/30
Expert Panel Presentations
No class – Thanksgiving Holiday
Expert Panel Presentations
Due date for Policy Brief to be negotiated
Due