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Full-Text Articles in Social Work

Quantifying Social Entities: An Historical-Sociological Critique, Julian Neylan Dec 2005

Quantifying Social Entities: An Historical-Sociological Critique, Julian Neylan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In formulating social policy the administrative arm of government relies heavily on number-based significations of knowledge, such as needs indicators and performance measures. Relying on numbers increases administrators' confidence in their decisions and shifts responsibility for error away from the decision-maker and towards the numbers. A close examination of the technology of social quantification reveals instability in many of the definitions and codes that needs analysts and program evaluators adopt when numerically inscribing social entities. To deal with these risks, bureaucracies must establish ways of explicitly assessing the uncertainty, imprecision and social construction that often lies behind the evidence presented …


Access To Housing For Persons With Disabilities: Lessons Learned From Three Demonstration Projects, Cutler, Disability And Aging, Eileen Griffin Jd Aug 2005

Access To Housing For Persons With Disabilities: Lessons Learned From Three Demonstration Projects, Cutler, Disability And Aging, Eileen Griffin Jd

Disability & Aging

The Quality Choices for Maine project was conducted from 2001-2004. This report focuses on Access to Services, one part of the three-year RCSC Quality Grant. The specific housing related goal was “to improve access to community housing for people with disabilities of all types.” Project activities were overseen by the Access to Services Technical Assistance Group and a variety of stakeholders. Read the activity summaries, lessons learned and recommendations on how to sustain the work.


The Missouri-Kansas Asset-Building Coalition And Policy Project: An Initiative In Cross-State Policy Making For Wealth Building, Njeri Kagotho, Gena Gunn Jul 2005

The Missouri-Kansas Asset-Building Coalition And Policy Project: An Initiative In Cross-State Policy Making For Wealth Building, Njeri Kagotho, Gena Gunn

Center for Social Development Research

The Missouri-Kansas Asset-Building Coalition and Policy Project: An Initiative in Cross-State Policy Making for Wealth Building


Diffusion Of Policy Innovation: The Case Of Individual Development Accounts (Idas) As An Asset-Building Policy, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Kristen Wagner, Karen Edwards Jul 2005

Diffusion Of Policy Innovation: The Case Of Individual Development Accounts (Idas) As An Asset-Building Policy, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Kristen Wagner, Karen Edwards

Center for Social Development Research

Diffusion of a policy innovation from one state to another is an important component of social change. Several theories and models have been developed to explain how and under what circumstances policy innovation and diffusion occurs. This paper examines the policy diffusion process through the case of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), a policy innovation designed to provide matched saving opportunities for low-income people to accumulate assets. While our examination supports several of the prominent theories of policy diffusion, we suggest that a fusion of policy theories may better guide policy makers in more adequately predicting and executing the diffusion of …