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?