Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. The case of the Patient Self Determination Act of 1990 suggests some recurring problems or issues in implementation. Critically discuss:
a) Why policymakers often establish goals or objectives that exceed the resources that they propose in their policies.
b) Why it is difficult to obtain accurate data on the implementation of specific policies.
c) How multiple factors contribute to the failure of people to implement specific policies
d) Why line staff are often scapegoated as the people who cause specific policies to not be implemented when, in fact, more fundamental causes exist.
2. Discuss some characteristics of policy innovations that make it relatively difficult to implement them (e.g., discuss characteristics of the innovations themselves, as well as their political and economic context). Can you think of ones that have been particularly difficult to implement, whether in national settings or in agencies?
3. Discuss 3 or 4 alternative reform strategies that policy advocates can use when they seek to improve the implementation of specific policies.
4. Discuss whether social workers might ever try to sabotage the implementation of specific policies. What ethical issues might they confront?
5. The implementation part of the policy-making process:licy-making process
6. A characteristic of a policy innovation that will probably be relatively difficult to implement is:
7. Administrative regulations are:
8. Monitoring is:
9. Organizational processes that precede an innovation:
10. The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 illustrates:
11. When diagnosing reasons why specific settings, such as a particular agency or
program, fail to implement a specific policy, policy advocates should:
12. Policy advocates:
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Chapter 12
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Why is the composition of government so important to policy advocates?
2. What specific advantages does the Party obtain that gets a majority in a legislative chamber?
3. What powers does the head of government, such as a Governor or a President, possess that gives him or her extraordinary powers in shaping public policy?
4. Are the Democrats and the Republicans “tweedle-dee” and “tweedle-dum”—or are they significantly different from each other in terms of their policy preferences?
5. What are the pros and cons of voting for a candidate from a third party such as the Green Party?
6. How important is money to campaigns? Do affluent candidates always or mostly win?
7. Why are incumbents often at a considerable advantage over challengers?
8. What do candidates aim to discover when they conduct analyses of voters in their districts?
9. What are the array of power resources that candidates possess in trying to convince voters to support them?
10. Are “negative campaigns” effective?
11. Why are low-income Americans averse to voting?
12. How does strategy evolve during the course of a campaign?
13. What roles can policy advocates undertake during campaigns?
14. Why is NASW’s PACE so important to the profession and to policy advocates?
15. What is a “public-service career”—and why is it important that some social workers develop such careers?
1. Why is the composition of government so important to policy advocates?
2. What specific advantages does the Party obtain that gets a majority in a legislative chamber?
3. What powers does the head of government, such as a Governor or a President, possess that gives him or her extraordinary powers in shaping public policy?
4. Are the Democrats and the Republicans “tweedle-dee” and “tweedle-dum”—or are they significantly different from each other in terms of their policy preferences?
5. What are the pros and cons of voting for a candidate from a third party such as the Green Party?
6. How important is money to campaigns? Do affluent candidates always or mostly win?
7. Why are incumbents often at a considerable advantage over challengers?
8. What do candidates aim to discover when they conduct analyses of voters in their districts?
9. What are the array of power resources that candidates possess in trying to convince voters to support them?
10. Are “negative campaigns” effective?
11. Why are low-income Americans averse to voting?
12. How does strategy evolve during the course of a campaign?
13. What roles can policy advocates undertake during campaigns?
14. Why is NASW’s PACE so important to the profession and to policy advocates?
15. What is a “public-service career”—and why is it important that some social workers develop such careers?
Chapter 14
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Why is the evaluation of policies, seemingly an essentially technical undertaking, often embroiled in controversy and politics?
2. The selection of the criteria to be used in evaluating specific policies is strongly influenced by values. Discuss this assertion with respect to the case of the evaluation of special services that is described in this chapter.
3. Discuss some similarities and differences between (a) the process of gauging policy trade-offs (as discussed in Chapter Eight) and policy assessment, and (b) policy argumentation and debates (as discussed in chapter Nine) and policy assessment.
4. Discuss the following assertion: “Negative findings may sometimes mean that a program should be expanded.”
5. Take a policy or program with which you are familiar. Discuss some design options that you could consider when evaluating it—and some of their strengths and weaknesses.
6. Why do correlational (or “backward-looking” studies) have less technical merit than forward-looking studies such as ones that randomly assign persons to control and experimental groups?
7. Do you agree with Tinder’s assertion that “consequences do not count, at least not decisively (when defending social programs)” since moral considerations, such as the extending of help to vulnerable or suffering people, are more important?
8. Discuss how people can participate in policy-assessing tasks even when they are not themselves charged with developing research studies.
9. Why are qualitative approaches to policy assessment sometimes needed?
1. Why is the evaluation of policies, seemingly an essentially technical undertaking, often embroiled in controversy and politics?
2. The selection of the criteria to be used in evaluating specific policies is strongly influenced by values. Discuss this assertion with respect to the case of the evaluation of special services that is described in this chapter.
3. Discuss some similarities and differences between (a) the process of gauging policy trade-offs (as discussed in Chapter Eight) and policy assessment, and (b) policy argumentation and debates (as discussed in chapter Nine) and policy assessment.
4. Discuss the following assertion: “Negative findings may sometimes mean that a program should be expanded.”
5. Take a policy or program with which you are familiar. Discuss some design options that you could consider when evaluating it—and some of their strengths and weaknesses.
6. Why do correlational (or “backward-looking” studies) have less technical merit than forward-looking studies such as ones that randomly assign persons to control and experimental groups?
7. Do you agree with Tinder’s assertion that “consequences do not count, at least not decisively (when defending social programs)” since moral considerations, such as the extending of help to vulnerable or suffering people, are more important?
8. Discuss how people can participate in policy-assessing tasks even when they are not themselves charged with developing research studies.
9. Why are qualitative approaches to policy assessment sometimes needed?
Chapter 11
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Discuss characteristics of legislatures that often require policy advocates to develop relatively ambitious strategies if they wish to be successful.
2. Why should policy advocates usually work with an organized group when seeking legislation, whether an existing advocacy group, interest group, or NASW?
3. When seeking legislation, why do advocates usually need to attain a unified strategy by developing a centralized team, a resource book and a strategy book?
4. What is a policy brief?
5. How does a policy advocate approach legislators in the context of their legislative staff and their heavy work schedules?
6. Why are committee staff critical to the success of an advocacy project—and how do they differ from legislators’ staff?
7. How might a policy advocate lobby specific legislators; discuss the length of visits, preparation for visits, tactics during visits, and expected outcomes.
8. What are policy “blitzes”?
9. What is the protocol for legislative testimony?
10. How does a policy advocate use the mass media, including letters to the editor?
11. Discuss four ways that a policy advocate can work in the legislative process generally, i.e., apart from specific advocacy projects.
12. Discuss the functions or activities of staff who work for candidates for elective office.
13. What are some important differences between policy advocacy in legislative and organizational arenas?
14. Why do the formal attributes of organizations provide both constraints and opportunities for policy advocates?
15. When are organizations most likely to be associated with high conflict?
16. Discuss an array of strategy options in organizations.
17. How does policy advocacy in community settings differ from advocacy in organizational settings?
1. Discuss characteristics of legislatures that often require policy advocates to develop relatively ambitious strategies if they wish to be successful.
2. Why should policy advocates usually work with an organized group when seeking legislation, whether an existing advocacy group, interest group, or NASW?
3. When seeking legislation, why do advocates usually need to attain a unified strategy by developing a centralized team, a resource book and a strategy book?
4. What is a policy brief?
5. How does a policy advocate approach legislators in the context of their legislative staff and their heavy work schedules?
6. Why are committee staff critical to the success of an advocacy project—and how do they differ from legislators’ staff?
7. How might a policy advocate lobby specific legislators; discuss the length of visits, preparation for visits, tactics during visits, and expected outcomes.
8. What are policy “blitzes”?
9. What is the protocol for legislative testimony?
10. How does a policy advocate use the mass media, including letters to the editor?
11. Discuss four ways that a policy advocate can work in the legislative process generally, i.e., apart from specific advocacy projects.
12. Discuss the functions or activities of staff who work for candidates for elective office.
13. What are some important differences between policy advocacy in legislative and organizational arenas?
14. Why do the formal attributes of organizations provide both constraints and opportunities for policy advocates?
15. When are organizations most likely to be associated with high conflict?
16. Discuss an array of strategy options in organizations.
17. How does policy advocacy in community settings differ from advocacy in organizational settings?
Chapter 10
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
DISCUSS the FOLLOWING
a. how strategists should establish orienting objectives, such as whether to assume the role of affirmer, amender, opposer, or bystander; whether to seek major or incremental changes; and whether to have a short- or long-term time frame
b. how to ground strategy with respect to a specific issue in current realities by conducting analysis of the level of support and opposition, contextual and situational realities that might deliberations, by trying to predict future developments that could increase support or opposition, and by adapting strategy to traditions and norms of the setting.
c. how to build alternative scenarios that are linked to strategy options as a precursor to selecting one of them
d. how to revise strategy in light of emerging realities
e. seven recurring steps in strategy including organizing a team coalition, establishing policy goals, specifying a proposal’s content and getting early sponsors, establishing a style, selecting power resources and framing strategy, implementing strategy, and revising the strategy.
1. By reviewing Policy Advocacy Challenge 12.1, discuss the following dilemmas, tasks, and realities that policy practitioners encounter when they develop political strategy:
(a) Since it is often difficult to predict whether a specific proposal is feasible in the early stages, people often under- or overestimate the opposition to it.
(b) Coalitions are often difficult to form and maintain but are often critical to the success of an initiative.
(c) Policy advocates often want to exert external pressure on public officials, yet simultaneously want “insider pressure” from key legislators or civil servants.
2. In addition to the role of initiating a proposal, discuss other roles that policy practitioners can assume, such as bystanding, opposing, and amending roles. How does someone decide which role to assume? Do people sometimes confront ethical dilemmas when they make these choices?
3. Force-field analysis often provides valuable information, but many evolving factors and imponderables often intrude.
DISCUSS the FOLLOWING
a. how strategists should establish orienting objectives, such as whether to assume the role of affirmer, amender, opposer, or bystander; whether to seek major or incremental changes; and whether to have a short- or long-term time frame
b. how to ground strategy with respect to a specific issue in current realities by conducting analysis of the level of support and opposition, contextual and situational realities that might deliberations, by trying to predict future developments that could increase support or opposition, and by adapting strategy to traditions and norms of the setting.
c. how to build alternative scenarios that are linked to strategy options as a precursor to selecting one of them
d. how to revise strategy in light of emerging realities
e. seven recurring steps in strategy including organizing a team coalition, establishing policy goals, specifying a proposal’s content and getting early sponsors, establishing a style, selecting power resources and framing strategy, implementing strategy, and revising the strategy.
1. By reviewing Policy Advocacy Challenge 12.1, discuss the following dilemmas, tasks, and realities that policy practitioners encounter when they develop political strategy:
(a) Since it is often difficult to predict whether a specific proposal is feasible in the early stages, people often under- or overestimate the opposition to it.
(b) Coalitions are often difficult to form and maintain but are often critical to the success of an initiative.
(c) Policy advocates often want to exert external pressure on public officials, yet simultaneously want “insider pressure” from key legislators or civil servants.
2. In addition to the role of initiating a proposal, discuss other roles that policy practitioners can assume, such as bystanding, opposing, and amending roles. How does someone decide which role to assume? Do people sometimes confront ethical dilemmas when they make these choices?
3. Force-field analysis often provides valuable information, but many evolving factors and imponderables often intrude.
Chapter 9
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Review Policy Advocacy Challenge 9.2, pp. 291-295. Identify various kinds of power resources (including person-to person, substantive, process, and procedural ones) that the social worker plans to use to secure the adoption of the service innovation.
2. What does Policy Advocacy Challenge 9.2 tell us about the power of low-level persons within agencies—in this case, the student intern who wants the agency to adopt a specific innovation? What constraints, as well as opportunities, stemmed from the low position that the intern occupied in the agency?
3. Referring to Policy Advocacy Challenge 9.2, discuss the exercising of power by indirection, for example, by using third parties.
4. Discuss the assertion that people with an analytic or technical style of policy-making have falsely given politics a “bad rep.” What are some positive or necessary functions of politics within agencies, communities, and societies?
5. Discuss the assertion that skillful policy practitioners recognize the many kinds of power resources that exist, thus expanding their options in specific situations.
6. Contrast person-to-person and substantive power resources. Contrast each of these kinds of power resources with power that works by indirection (e.g., efforts to shape outcomes through procedural, process, and context-shaping strategies).
7. How does “power” differ from “force”?
8. Discuss the assertion that line workers often obtain power by using their autonomy.
9. Discuss the assertion that discretion, compliance, and whistleblowing are interrelated concepts.
10. Discuss the positive uses of whistleblowing. Also discuss how it might be abused or used unethically.
11. Discuss how policy practitioners often need to be relatively assertive, but how a victim mentality and fatalism often make people excessively passive in specific situations
12. Discuss how direct-service staff and often participate in the politics of their agencies even though they lack formal power, or authority, of higher-level staff
1. Review Policy Advocacy Challenge 9.2, pp. 291-295. Identify various kinds of power resources (including person-to person, substantive, process, and procedural ones) that the social worker plans to use to secure the adoption of the service innovation.
2. What does Policy Advocacy Challenge 9.2 tell us about the power of low-level persons within agencies—in this case, the student intern who wants the agency to adopt a specific innovation? What constraints, as well as opportunities, stemmed from the low position that the intern occupied in the agency?
3. Referring to Policy Advocacy Challenge 9.2, discuss the exercising of power by indirection, for example, by using third parties.
4. Discuss the assertion that people with an analytic or technical style of policy-making have falsely given politics a “bad rep.” What are some positive or necessary functions of politics within agencies, communities, and societies?
5. Discuss the assertion that skillful policy practitioners recognize the many kinds of power resources that exist, thus expanding their options in specific situations.
6. Contrast person-to-person and substantive power resources. Contrast each of these kinds of power resources with power that works by indirection (e.g., efforts to shape outcomes through procedural, process, and context-shaping strategies).
7. How does “power” differ from “force”?
8. Discuss the assertion that line workers often obtain power by using their autonomy.
9. Discuss the assertion that discretion, compliance, and whistleblowing are interrelated concepts.
10. Discuss the positive uses of whistleblowing. Also discuss how it might be abused or used unethically.
11. Discuss how policy practitioners often need to be relatively assertive, but how a victim mentality and fatalism often make people excessively passive in specific situations
12. Discuss how direct-service staff and often participate in the politics of their agencies even though they lack formal power, or authority, of higher-level staff
Chapter 8
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Discuss the assertion: policy persuasion should be viewed as a relatively minor part of policy practice because people usually judge proposals by their technical merit.
2. Discuss the assertion that presentations have to be tailored to specific audiences.
3. Discuss kinds of audiences that pose particular challenges to policy presentors.
4. Discuss specific strategies for dealing with: hostile audiences, expert audiences, and apathetic audiences.
5. When someone is testifying to a legislative committee with liberal, conservative, and moderate members, to whom do they address their strategy and remarks?
6. How can someone develop presentation skills when they feel uncomfortable about making presentations?
7. Compare “hardball” with “win-win” negotiations.
8. Discuss whether a level playing field exists with respect to getting grants for agencies from foundations and other funders. (HINT: established agencies with track records and agencies or organizations that provide services that are relatively prestigious have an easier time than newer organizations or agencies that help stigmatized populations.)
9. Discuss how debaters can use an array of strategies to attack premises, the workability of their proposals, unanticipated consequences, their analogies, their date and analytic of events, points of vagueness, unacceptable trade-offs, and likely effects of unforeseen events
10. Describe and discuss the nature of coercive or hard-line messages and the risks that sometimes accompany their use
11. Describe and discuss the nature of negotiations including both win-win and “hardball” strategies
12. Discuss the nature of win-win or collaborative techniques
1. Discuss the assertion: policy persuasion should be viewed as a relatively minor part of policy practice because people usually judge proposals by their technical merit.
2. Discuss the assertion that presentations have to be tailored to specific audiences.
3. Discuss kinds of audiences that pose particular challenges to policy presentors.
4. Discuss specific strategies for dealing with: hostile audiences, expert audiences, and apathetic audiences.
5. When someone is testifying to a legislative committee with liberal, conservative, and moderate members, to whom do they address their strategy and remarks?
6. How can someone develop presentation skills when they feel uncomfortable about making presentations?
7. Compare “hardball” with “win-win” negotiations.
8. Discuss whether a level playing field exists with respect to getting grants for agencies from foundations and other funders. (HINT: established agencies with track records and agencies or organizations that provide services that are relatively prestigious have an easier time than newer organizations or agencies that help stigmatized populations.)
9. Discuss how debaters can use an array of strategies to attack premises, the workability of their proposals, unanticipated consequences, their analogies, their date and analytic of events, points of vagueness, unacceptable trade-offs, and likely effects of unforeseen events
10. Describe and discuss the nature of coercive or hard-line messages and the risks that sometimes accompany their use
11. Describe and discuss the nature of negotiations including both win-win and “hardball” strategies
12. Discuss the nature of win-win or collaborative techniques
Chapter 7
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. The focus or mission of a program is often profoundly shaped by where it is placed within a bureaucracy or agency. Discuss.
2. The increasing use of profit-oriented agencies to deliver social services poses a threat to the quality of services in the welfare state. Discuss.
3. How does the tax system currently fund a variety of social programs and activities? Discuss some advantages and disadvantages in using the tax system to fund social welfare programs. Discuss the fairness of the tax code in the context of tax loopholes and tax rates on persons of different socioeconomic classes.
4. Take two alternative routes or channels for funding social programs and discuss their comparative strengths and weaknesses (see Figure 7.1, p. 185).
5. The founders of social programs are often disappointed to find that their programs receive considerably fewer resources in succeeding years than they had hoped. Discuss in the context of the appropriation and authorizations process.
6. Licensing, accreditation, and classification policies have emerged from a combination of self-interest and altruism. Discuss this statement as it applies to social work profession.
7. Social agencies accomplish rationing by a variety of explicit and official policies and by some informal and less obvious policies. Discuss in general terms or with respect to a specific agency.
8. Identify three ways that agencies establish networks or collaborations.
9. In Figure 7.3, on p. 233, discuss why the social worker selected a specific option while deciding to reject others.
10. The solution to a policy problem is profoundly shaped by the selection and weighting of criteria. Discuss this assertion by referring to the example of the student intern who wanted more spanish-speaking staff in a hospital on p. 235 of the text this chapter and referring to Table 7.3 and Table 7.4 on p. 238.
11. Discuss some kinds of criteria that often recur in policy analysis.
12. In many cases, the criteria that are used by policy practitioners conflict with one another, i.e., an option that ranks high with respect to one criterion can rank low with respect to another criterion. Take the examples of cost and quality of services and discuss how these criteria often conflict in the human services system.
13. Policy analysts often encounter the challenge of predicting how specific policy options will fare before they are enacted and implemented. Discuss this statement.
14. Play devil’s advocate with respect to Table 7.3. Develop a rationale for an entirely different conclusion or recommendation in these cases, whether by selecting different criteria or options or by scoring the options in different fashion. What does this exercise tell us about some limitations of policy analysis?
1. The focus or mission of a program is often profoundly shaped by where it is placed within a bureaucracy or agency. Discuss.
2. The increasing use of profit-oriented agencies to deliver social services poses a threat to the quality of services in the welfare state. Discuss.
3. How does the tax system currently fund a variety of social programs and activities? Discuss some advantages and disadvantages in using the tax system to fund social welfare programs. Discuss the fairness of the tax code in the context of tax loopholes and tax rates on persons of different socioeconomic classes.
4. Take two alternative routes or channels for funding social programs and discuss their comparative strengths and weaknesses (see Figure 7.1, p. 185).
5. The founders of social programs are often disappointed to find that their programs receive considerably fewer resources in succeeding years than they had hoped. Discuss in the context of the appropriation and authorizations process.
6. Licensing, accreditation, and classification policies have emerged from a combination of self-interest and altruism. Discuss this statement as it applies to social work profession.
7. Social agencies accomplish rationing by a variety of explicit and official policies and by some informal and less obvious policies. Discuss in general terms or with respect to a specific agency.
8. Identify three ways that agencies establish networks or collaborations.
9. In Figure 7.3, on p. 233, discuss why the social worker selected a specific option while deciding to reject others.
10. The solution to a policy problem is profoundly shaped by the selection and weighting of criteria. Discuss this assertion by referring to the example of the student intern who wanted more spanish-speaking staff in a hospital on p. 235 of the text this chapter and referring to Table 7.3 and Table 7.4 on p. 238.
11. Discuss some kinds of criteria that often recur in policy analysis.
12. In many cases, the criteria that are used by policy practitioners conflict with one another, i.e., an option that ranks high with respect to one criterion can rank low with respect to another criterion. Take the examples of cost and quality of services and discuss how these criteria often conflict in the human services system.
13. Policy analysts often encounter the challenge of predicting how specific policy options will fare before they are enacted and implemented. Discuss this statement.
14. Play devil’s advocate with respect to Table 7.3. Develop a rationale for an entirely different conclusion or recommendation in these cases, whether by selecting different criteria or options or by scoring the options in different fashion. What does this exercise tell us about some limitations of policy analysis?
Chapter 6
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. It is sometimes argued that “the way in which persons define a problem influences how they proceed to solve or address.” Discuss this statement as it applies to alcoholism or substance abuse.
2. Take any major social problem and try to develop a definition of it. Try using both relative and absolute approaches. How is the definition influenced by values or cultural predispositions?
3. Discuss the statement, “social workers place insufficient emphasis on public health or radical paradigms when analyzing specific social problems.”
4. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of several alternative ways of measuring the prevalence of a specific social problem in a specific community. Is it possible to use several kinds of information in tandem?
5. Discuss how a specific social problem takes different forms (or manifestations) and has different causes in specific subsections of the population. Discuss some implication of these variation for the human services delivery system.
6. In an analytic approach to policy practice:
7. When constructing typologies of social problems,
8. Rates, incidence, and prevalence pertain to:
9. “False positives” are:
10. “Felt need” refers to:
11. To determine the geographic location of specific, social problems, one might use:
12. In programs with a high benefit-cost ratio:
1. It is sometimes argued that “the way in which persons define a problem influences how they proceed to solve or address.” Discuss this statement as it applies to alcoholism or substance abuse.
2. Take any major social problem and try to develop a definition of it. Try using both relative and absolute approaches. How is the definition influenced by values or cultural predispositions?
3. Discuss the statement, “social workers place insufficient emphasis on public health or radical paradigms when analyzing specific social problems.”
4. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of several alternative ways of measuring the prevalence of a specific social problem in a specific community. Is it possible to use several kinds of information in tandem?
5. Discuss how a specific social problem takes different forms (or manifestations) and has different causes in specific subsections of the population. Discuss some implication of these variation for the human services delivery system.
6. In an analytic approach to policy practice:
7. When constructing typologies of social problems,
8. Rates, incidence, and prevalence pertain to:
9. “False positives” are:
10. “Felt need” refers to:
11. To determine the geographic location of specific, social problems, one might use:
12. In programs with a high benefit-cost ratio:
Chapter 5
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Discuss why legislators and executives in agencies have to “ration” issues.
2. Discuss the assertion that certain kinds of issues receive “preferential treatment” in problem solution, and political streams.
3. Discuss tactics that policy practitioners use within each of the three streams to increase the odds that a specific issue will be place on decision agendas.
4. Why do “windows of opportunity” open and close?
5. Why do advocates for powerless or oppressed populations sometimes encounter particular problems during agenda-setting processes? Do examples of successes of these advocates exist where they achieved considerable successes despite adverse odds?
6. Take any “policy entrepreneur” who played a particularly important role in getting an issue onto choice or decision agenda in an agency or legislature. What specific tactics did he or she use?
7. Discuss how Policy Advocacy Challenge 5.4 illustrates the diagnostic, softening, and activating roles of policy practitioners.
8. Discuss how political agendas develop in political campaigns, such as the presidential race of 2000 or specific congressional race in 2002.
9. Executives in agencies and legislators:
10. Incrementalists argue that executive favor small changes in policy because:
11. The diagnosing stage of agenda building refers to:
1. Discuss why legislators and executives in agencies have to “ration” issues.
2. Discuss the assertion that certain kinds of issues receive “preferential treatment” in problem solution, and political streams.
3. Discuss tactics that policy practitioners use within each of the three streams to increase the odds that a specific issue will be place on decision agendas.
4. Why do “windows of opportunity” open and close?
5. Why do advocates for powerless or oppressed populations sometimes encounter particular problems during agenda-setting processes? Do examples of successes of these advocates exist where they achieved considerable successes despite adverse odds?
6. Take any “policy entrepreneur” who played a particularly important role in getting an issue onto choice or decision agenda in an agency or legislature. What specific tactics did he or she use?
7. Discuss how Policy Advocacy Challenge 5.4 illustrates the diagnostic, softening, and activating roles of policy practitioners.
8. Discuss how political agendas develop in political campaigns, such as the presidential race of 2000 or specific congressional race in 2002.
9. Executives in agencies and legislators:
10. Incrementalists argue that executive favor small changes in policy because:
11. The diagnosing stage of agenda building refers to:
Chapter 4
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Discuss similarities and differences in the points of view of heads-of-government and (a) legislators, and (b) civil servants
2. Discuss why many legislators have little time to really study, or attend to, the actual substantive issues underlying legislation. What “shortcuts” do they use to deal with this situation (e.g., reliance on aides and lobbyists).
3. Discuss the assertion: “lobbyists are slippery, devious people who cannot be trusted.”
4. Discuss the assertion: “legislative procedures give opponents of legislation so many opportunities to defeat it that opponents of contested legislation possess a decisive advantage.”
5. Why is it useful, when thinking about social agencies, to place them in their broader, political-economic context?
6. “Heads of government” are:
7. Political appointees are:
8. Political appointees are usually charged with:
9. The Executive Branch of Government is:
10. Legislators possess the power to:
11. Most legislatures in state capitals are:
12. The majority party in a legislative chamber:
1. Discuss similarities and differences in the points of view of heads-of-government and (a) legislators, and (b) civil servants
2. Discuss why many legislators have little time to really study, or attend to, the actual substantive issues underlying legislation. What “shortcuts” do they use to deal with this situation (e.g., reliance on aides and lobbyists).
3. Discuss the assertion: “lobbyists are slippery, devious people who cannot be trusted.”
4. Discuss the assertion: “legislative procedures give opponents of legislation so many opportunities to defeat it that opponents of contested legislation possess a decisive advantage.”
5. Why is it useful, when thinking about social agencies, to place them in their broader, political-economic context?
6. “Heads of government” are:
7. Political appointees are:
8. Political appointees are usually charged with:
9. The Executive Branch of Government is:
10. Legislators possess the power to:
11. Most legislatures in state capitals are:
12. The majority party in a legislative chamber:
Chapter 3
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Take any one of the six policy tasks that are defined in this chapter and discuss how policy practitioners often need to use a variety of policy skills to accomplish it.
2. Discuss why policy practitioners need a variety of skills, rather than only one or two, to be effective in changing policies.
3. Identify an array of policy competencies with respect to each of the four policy skills.
4. Discuss some circumstances when a legislative-advocacy style of policy practice would be more effective than an analytical style.
5. Discuss how the troubleshooting style of policy advocacy differs from the legislative advocacy style.
6. Discuss some problems in evaluating or assessing someone’s policy practices illustrated by the case of the Welfare Council that is discussed in this chapter.
7. Discuss the assertion that many social workers feel uncomfortable with the use of power? If so, why is this the case? What remedies exist in (1) curriculum of schools, or (2) in subsequent careers?
8. Discuss the assertion that policy practice can be a unifying theme for the profession of social work. What barriers exist to widespread participation in policy practice by social workers in their jobs and in their careers?
9. Ballot-based advocacy is a style of policy advocacy that:
10. The analytic style of policy advocacy makes:
11. The legislative-advocacy style of policy advocacy:
12. The troubleshooting style of policy advocacy:
1. Take any one of the six policy tasks that are defined in this chapter and discuss how policy practitioners often need to use a variety of policy skills to accomplish it.
2. Discuss why policy practitioners need a variety of skills, rather than only one or two, to be effective in changing policies.
3. Identify an array of policy competencies with respect to each of the four policy skills.
4. Discuss some circumstances when a legislative-advocacy style of policy practice would be more effective than an analytical style.
5. Discuss how the troubleshooting style of policy advocacy differs from the legislative advocacy style.
6. Discuss some problems in evaluating or assessing someone’s policy practices illustrated by the case of the Welfare Council that is discussed in this chapter.
7. Discuss the assertion that many social workers feel uncomfortable with the use of power? If so, why is this the case? What remedies exist in (1) curriculum of schools, or (2) in subsequent careers?
8. Discuss the assertion that policy practice can be a unifying theme for the profession of social work. What barriers exist to widespread participation in policy practice by social workers in their jobs and in their careers?
9. Ballot-based advocacy is a style of policy advocacy that:
10. The analytic style of policy advocacy makes:
11. The legislative-advocacy style of policy advocacy:
12. The troubleshooting style of policy advocacy:
Chapter 2
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Discuss the assertion: social workers who focus on their clinical work “ought not be expected to do more,” since they are attending to their client’s well-being (or beneficence).
2. Discuss the ethical rationale for the argument that direct-service work should include policy-sensitive and policy-related activities and dimensions? Enumerate specific sensitivities or actions that fall under each of these categories.
3. Discuss the merits of Rawls’ central argument that the “rational person” would likely choose to live in a society like Sweden rather than the United States when operating under the "veil of ignorance."
4. Review Policy Advocacy Challenge 2.1. Can social workers sometimes help their clients participate in the social-policy process?
5. How do deontologists and utilitarians differ in their approach to ethical reasoning? Name one strength and one weakness of each approach.
6. A dilemma in ethical reasoning is that people often encounter two (or more) “partly-good options” so that choices are often not clear cut. Discuss this reality with respect to the merits of active euthanasia or any other controversial policy issue.
7. Discuss some ethical dangers or pitfalls we might experience if we base our ethical choices entirely on consequences, such as funding only those medical procedures that have excellent chances of helping citizens become tax-paying citizens.
8. Compare and contrast the assumptions of radicals, liberals, and conservatives with regard to government involvement in the economic and social order.
9. With reference to Policy Advocacy Challenge 2.4, discuss some reasons why staff do not divulge to outside authorities the wrong doing of some tenet Healthcare psychiatrists.
10. Discuss the assertion that social workers do not act ethically when they seek to advance their own, or their profession’s self interest.
11. Discuss the assertion that social workers are more likely than other people to emphasize social justice, fairness, and honesty when they participate in policy practice.
12. Discuss how social and medical research has encouraged a revolution in policies dealing with people with schizophrenia during the past 40 years.
13. Discuss the divergent policy recommendations that Richard Hernstein and Claude Fischer would support as a result of their different findings in The Bell Curve and Inequality by Design.
14. Discuss why it is critical that social workers work to change the composition of government. Compare and contrast policies that emanated from a relatively conservative and a relatively liberal presidency or governorship to illustrate the importance of ballot-based advocacy.
1. Discuss the assertion: social workers who focus on their clinical work “ought not be expected to do more,” since they are attending to their client’s well-being (or beneficence).
2. Discuss the ethical rationale for the argument that direct-service work should include policy-sensitive and policy-related activities and dimensions? Enumerate specific sensitivities or actions that fall under each of these categories.
3. Discuss the merits of Rawls’ central argument that the “rational person” would likely choose to live in a society like Sweden rather than the United States when operating under the "veil of ignorance."
4. Review Policy Advocacy Challenge 2.1. Can social workers sometimes help their clients participate in the social-policy process?
5. How do deontologists and utilitarians differ in their approach to ethical reasoning? Name one strength and one weakness of each approach.
6. A dilemma in ethical reasoning is that people often encounter two (or more) “partly-good options” so that choices are often not clear cut. Discuss this reality with respect to the merits of active euthanasia or any other controversial policy issue.
7. Discuss some ethical dangers or pitfalls we might experience if we base our ethical choices entirely on consequences, such as funding only those medical procedures that have excellent chances of helping citizens become tax-paying citizens.
8. Compare and contrast the assumptions of radicals, liberals, and conservatives with regard to government involvement in the economic and social order.
9. With reference to Policy Advocacy Challenge 2.4, discuss some reasons why staff do not divulge to outside authorities the wrong doing of some tenet Healthcare psychiatrists.
10. Discuss the assertion that social workers do not act ethically when they seek to advance their own, or their profession’s self interest.
11. Discuss the assertion that social workers are more likely than other people to emphasize social justice, fairness, and honesty when they participate in policy practice.
12. Discuss how social and medical research has encouraged a revolution in policies dealing with people with schizophrenia during the past 40 years.
13. Discuss the divergent policy recommendations that Richard Hernstein and Claude Fischer would support as a result of their different findings in The Bell Curve and Inequality by Design.
14. Discuss why it is critical that social workers work to change the composition of government. Compare and contrast policies that emanated from a relatively conservative and a relatively liberal presidency or governorship to illustrate the importance of ballot-based advocacy.
Chapter 1
Each student will select one question to answer. You must include the page number in the book which assisted you with your answer. Each student will comment on two of their peers responses. No two students may answer the same question.
1. Take any major social problem in contemporary society. Identify an array of policy enactments that have addressed or redressed this problem in recent American history.
2. Analyze historical cleavages within social work with respect to policy advocacy such as the schism between Jane Addams and Mary Richmond. Do such schisms exist in contemporary social work?
3. Has ‘policy devolution” made policy advocacy more or less important?
4. How does policy advocacy allow social workers to address the needs of diverse outgroups? (See Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.1)
5. Discuss the following statement: “It is not feasible or practical for most social workers, whose primary responsibilities lie elsewhere, to engage in the practice of policy. Therefore, this kind of practice should be reserved for persons who specialize in it.”
6. Are direct-service social workers ill-equipped to engage in the practice of policy? What sensitivities and skills facilitate their participation in policy practice?
7. By using the mental health system as an example, discuss how social services have become politicized in the past three decades by identifying controversies that have arisen (e.g., around commitments, use of medications, definitions of mental illness, and discrimination against racial minorities and women).
8. Discuss the four kinds of policy-practice skills that policy practitioners need. Why will not a single skill suffice?
9. Identify the six policy tasks that policy practitioners frequently undertake.
10. Define social policy – and discuss different kinds of social policies.
11. Are personal preferences the same as social policies?
12. Discuss some attributes of effective policy advocates.
13. What are key challenges that policy advocates encounter that distinguish their work from direct service practitioners?
1. Take any major social problem in contemporary society. Identify an array of policy enactments that have addressed or redressed this problem in recent American history.
2. Analyze historical cleavages within social work with respect to policy advocacy such as the schism between Jane Addams and Mary Richmond. Do such schisms exist in contemporary social work?
3. Has ‘policy devolution” made policy advocacy more or less important?
4. How does policy advocacy allow social workers to address the needs of diverse outgroups? (See Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.1)
5. Discuss the following statement: “It is not feasible or practical for most social workers, whose primary responsibilities lie elsewhere, to engage in the practice of policy. Therefore, this kind of practice should be reserved for persons who specialize in it.”
6. Are direct-service social workers ill-equipped to engage in the practice of policy? What sensitivities and skills facilitate their participation in policy practice?
7. By using the mental health system as an example, discuss how social services have become politicized in the past three decades by identifying controversies that have arisen (e.g., around commitments, use of medications, definitions of mental illness, and discrimination against racial minorities and women).
8. Discuss the four kinds of policy-practice skills that policy practitioners need. Why will not a single skill suffice?
9. Identify the six policy tasks that policy practitioners frequently undertake.
10. Define social policy – and discuss different kinds of social policies.
11. Are personal preferences the same as social policies?
12. Discuss some attributes of effective policy advocates.
13. What are key challenges that policy advocates encounter that distinguish their work from direct service practitioners?
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