This volume analyzes welfare policies by looking at the making of their target publics. It examines how these populations are identified and constructed by policy making. The contributors apply the classic theoretical question about who gets what, when, and how, but also suggest the revisiting of policy-feedback analysis. Coverage includes empirical case studies in different geographical areas. It looks at Europe, the United States and also considers Mayotte, set in a post-colonial context. The chapters also examine different aspects of welfare, including the bureaucratic treatment of marginalized populations as well as the middle class. The authors draw on diverse conceptual approaches and investigative methodologies. They conduct participant observation in public or nonprofit organizations, explore administrative records, and interview actors at various stages of policymaking. This qualitative material is then combined with relevant quantitative data. Readers are guided through a multilevel approach of welfare policies, from their definition to their implementation. They gain insight into the targeting of publics, from the higher reaches of government to the most underprivileged groups of the social world. Overall, the book compares different national contexts and social policy fields. This approach unearths regularities, enabling the authors to reassess major contemporary transformations of the welfare State.

Invaluable guidance and advice for creating positive change in social policy Edited by a team of renowned experts, Connecting Social Welfare Policy to Fields of Practice features contributions from leaders in this field providing a variety of perspectives on different topics. This visionary guide equips social workers to proactively engage in policy practice to influence specific policies. Designed as a social welfare policy practice text for undergraduate and graduate students in social work programs, this book meets the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). Each chapter begins with an overarching question and "what if" scenarios, and ends with a set of suggested key terms, online resources, and discussion questions. Connecting Social Welfare Policy to Fields of Practice addresses specific populations within a wide variety of practice arenas, including: Social welfare policy and politics Aging in the United States Public mental health policy in the United States Disability policy development Health-care policy Urban housing policy Child welfare policy Redefining the welfare state in a global economy Global in context, Connecting Social Welfare Policy to Fields of Practice encourages those in the social work profession to become directly engaged with individuals, families, groups, and communities in the crafting of impartial public policies for marginalized members of society.

Explains how to analyze social policy and programs and how to design new programs or evaluate and improve existing ones. Analysis, evaluation and design of social policy and programs. Students of Social Work Policy or Social Work practitioners interested in learning more about the analysis, evaluation and design of social policy and programs.

This book examines the relationship between the middle class and the welfare state. Taking an interpretive approach which understands the middle class as a socially constructed category, it combines discourse analysis, welfare state theory, and interpretive policy analysis in an innovative way to investigate how the middle class becomes a meaningful object of public debates and policymaking. Comparing Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, the book reconstructs the prevalent images and meanings of the middle class from each country’s public debates and tracks how the middle classes with their various meanings and characteristics are entangled with the identification of societal problems, the articulation of political demands, and the construction of welfare policies. Ultimately, it shows how the formation and consolidation of different welfare regimes can be interpreted as specific ways of solving the puzzle of how to incorporate the middle class in the construction of a welfare state consensus. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of comparative welfare state research, policy analysis, political sociology, political theory, and European and comparative politics.

Should chronically disruptive students be allowed to remain in public schools? Should nonagenarians receive costly medical care at taxpayer expense? Who should be first in line for kidney transplants—the relatively healthy or the severely ill? In T argeting in Social Programs , Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser provide a rigorous framework for analyzing these and other difficult choices. Many government policies seek to help unfortunate, often low-income individuals—in other words, "bad draws." These efforts are frequently undermined by poor targeting, however. In particular, when two groups of bad draws—"bad bets" and "bad apples"—are included in social welfare programs, bad policies are likely to result. Many politicians and policymakers prefer to sweep this problem under the rug. But the costs of this silence are high. Allocating resources to bad bets and bad apples does more than waste money—it also makes it harder to achieve substantive goals, such as the creation of safe and effective schools. And perhaps most important, it erodes support for public programs on which many good bets and good apples rely. By training a spotlight on these issues, Schuck and Zeckhauser take a first step toward much-needed reforms. They dissect the challenges involved in defining bad bets and bad apples and discuss the safeguards that any classification process must provide. They also examine three areas where bad apples and bad bets loom large—public schools, public housing, and medical care—and propose policy changes that could reduce the problems these two groups pose. This provocative book does not offer easy answers, but it raises questions that no one with an interest in policy effectiveness can afford to ignore. By turns incisive and probing, Bad Draws will generate vigorous debate.

ÔThis volume makes a valuable contribution to the dynamic and expanding field of scholarship on social policy in developing countries. In combining analytical frameworks used in comparative social policy analysis with an examination of key areas of policy and provision in selected countries, it will be a key resource for anyone interested in current debates in international social policy and welfare.Õ Ð Nicola Yeates, Open University, UK There is increasing interest in the significance of social policy in the management of welfare and risk in the developing world. This volume provides a critical analysis of the challenges and opportunities facing social protection systems in the global south, and examines current strategies for addressing poverty and welfare needs in the region. In particular, the text explores the extent to which the analytic models and concepts for the study of social policy in the industrialised North are relevant in a developing country context. The volume analyses the various institutions, actors, instruments and mechanisms involved in the welfare arrangements of developing countries and provides a study of the contexts, development and future trajectory of social policy in the global South. The bookÕs comparative and interdisciplinary approach will be of interest to anyone involved in social policy research and analysis and current welfare debates.

Evidence indicates that actions within four main themes (early child development fair employment and decent work social protection and the living environment) are likely to have the greatest impact on the social determinants of health and health inequities. A systematic search and analysis of recommendations and policy guidelines from intergovernmental organizations and international bodies identified practical policy options for action on social determinants within these four themes. Policy options focused on early childhood education and care; child poverty; investment strategies for an inclusive economy; active labour market programmes; working conditions; social cash transfers; affordable housing; and planning and regulatory mechanisms to improve air quality and mitigate climate change. Applying combinations of these policy options alongside effective governance for health equity should enable WHO European Region Member States to reduce health inequities and synergize efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.