Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"New" Directions In The Welfare Reform Debate: The Problems Of Federalism, W. Joseph Heffernan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper reviews the problem of federalism and welfare and presents statistical data about the relative welfare practices among the states over the last 25 years. The relevance of these problems and practices to the current hopes for welfare reform and policy conflicts within Congress are discussed.

Community Mental Health: A View From American History, Mary Ann Jimenez

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The limitations of the movement for deinstitutionalization of the chronically mentally disordered have been the subject of a repeated series of investigations and analyses in the last 10 years. These critiques can be summed up in the undeniable observation that the chronically mentally disordered have by and large failed to benefit from deinstitutionalization in the ways that the original advocates and planners of this policy had hoped. The promise of community mental health, at least as articulated by the scores of witnesses before Congressional committees in the early 1960's, has not been realized for this population.

Unemployment And Social Integration: A Review, Loring Jones

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A review of the literature identifies the loss of work as a stressful life event that has been linked to a number of psychosocial ills. The paper examines the loss of social relationships, a major noneconomic cost of unemployment, as a major contributor to the development of those ills. Practice implications of this finding are identified.

Strategic Planning In Human Service Agencies, Stephen A. Webster, Mary Wylie

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Recent public policy initiatives including deinstitutionalization, deregulation, decentralization, and privatization have resulted in: (a) rapid growth in the number of private not-for-profit organizations; and, (b) competitive environments. These conditions have forced agencies to examine their planning processes to determine if agency goals are appropriate for meeting market demands. An exploratory study of 154 human service agencies examined if and how strategic planning was used to respond to these conditions. The Chief Executive Officers for those agencies reported that strategic planning was replacing incremental planning as a preferred planning model. However, the choice resulted because of pressure from outside influentials not …

"Our Town": A Case Study Of Ideology And The Private Social Welfare Sector, William M. Epstein

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This case study explores the relationship between ideology and the performance of the voluntary social welfare sector in Western New York. Data were collected from the directors of 22 of the largest and most important voluntary social welfare agencies relating to their own social attitudes and those of their boards. The common expression of similar agency attitudes toward a variety of social policies were in narrow conformity with the conservative values of the current national administration. The common core of conservative values, suggesting that the agencies perform an ideological role within the community in addition to their service role, may …

Challenging The Proposed Deregulation Of P.L. 94-142: A Case Study Of Citizen Advocacy, James G. Mccullagh

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Public Law 94-142, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, considered by many to be the most significant federal legislation for children in need of special education, was proposed for deregulation by the Reagan administration in 1982. This study examines actions taken by citizen advocates-consumer/advocacy/parent (CAP) organizations and groups, parents, and other advocates for exceptional children-who gave testimony in opposition to the proposed changes at public hearings held by the United States Department of Education in late 1982. The most controversial proposed rules were withdrawn on September 29, 1982, while the remaining proposed changes were not implemented. Citizen …

The Effects Of Participative Management On Teacher Satisfaction During Periods Of Organizational Decline, Robert Michael O'Brien

Dissertations

Public school teachers and administrators are increasingly challenged to demonstrate effectiveness in the face of organizational decline. A management system proposed by researchers in organizational development to promote worker effectiveness is participatory management. This study investigated the effects of participatory management as they related to teacher satisfaction and productivity during organizational decline. Two local school districts that used a participatory management system, identified as Quality of Work Life (QWL) districts, were studied. Two similar local school districts that did not use a participatory management system were also studied. The results of the analysis indicate that there were no significant differences …

Factors That Relate To Job Retention For Former Welfare Recipients, Lisa Spadafore

Masters Theses

This descriptive study attempted to determine the factors that relate to job retention for former welfare recipients. Welfare recipients (15 women and 17 men), who were participating in a job club program, completed the Wonderlic Personnel Test (Wonderlic, 1985), the 16 Personality Factors Test (Eber, Cattell, & IPAT Staff, 1985), and a Background/Monetary Questionnaire. Thirty-two clients who obtained jobs were divided into two groups, those who retained their job for 90 days (n = 21) and those who did not (n = 11). Of the 31 factors analyzed, four showed a statistically significant relationship with job retention; amount of jail …

Social Democracy, War, And The Welfare State, Paul Adams

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Many writers have discerned links between the welfare state and social democracy. A few have examined the connections between the welfare state and war. The links connecting war, social democracy, and the welfare state are here examined, and it is argued that all three can be fruitfully understood as aspects of a tendency to state capitalism which prevailed in the first half of the twentieth century but which has increasingly been offset by a countervailing tendency to internationalization. The welfare state and social democracy, as national-state centered phenomena resting on the capacity of individual states to manage their own segments …

Beyond War: Empowerment For Senior Citizens In A Nuclear Age, Susan Rice

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An educationally focused non-partisan grass roots peace movement is described, as are the empowering effects of being involved in such a group. Beginning attempts to utilize this approach with senior citizens are explored, and further experimentation is encouraged.

The Warfare-Welfare Tradeoff: Consequences Of Continuing The Nudear Arms Race And Some Policy Alternatives, Sam Marullo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper provides a survey of the positive functions of the nuclear arms race for segments of society and society as a whole. The analysis of the positive functions does not serve as a justification for the status quo, but is undertaken to point out the numerous constraints mitigating against change. Massive social forces operate in such a manner as to continue and expand the arms race, indicating large scale social changes are required to stop it. A series of policy alternatives are enumerated as functional alternatives which would have fewer negative consequences while preserving our national security.

Making War Thinkable, Shimon S. Gottschalk

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper identifies significant cognitive elements in Western thought which appear to undergird and lend an aura of legitimacy and credence to discussions of defense, armaments, and the preparation of war.

Social Work Concerns Related To Peace And People Oriented Development In The International Context, Daniel S. Sanders

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is the thesis of this paper that the social work profession along with other human service professions has the potential of making a vital contribution in promoting peace and people oriented development and that the ultimate test of the profession's contribution to individuals, families, and communities in varying contexts is the ensuring of human survival and the enhancing of the quality of life for all people.

Transcending Despair: A Prelude To Action, Norman N. Goroff

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The central thesis of this essay is that in order to feel empowered to work for the elimination of nuclear weapons, persons need to face and transcend their despair when they contemplate the nuclear destruction of the planet. The repression of fear of nuclear disaster results in a sense of powerlessness to do anything about the inevitable destruction and consequently nothing is done, thereby allowing the "Lovers of Death" (Fromm, 1964) to build bigger and better ways to destroy the planet.

Determination Of A "Benchmark" Rate Of Return For Regulated Small Telephone Utilities In The State Of Michigan, Gondy Bhaskara Rao

Dissertations

This study presents an approach that is consistent with regulatory standards of fairness, and enables the Public Service Commission staff to determining "benchmark" rates of return for Michigan's small telephone utilities. It applies only where they are either subsidiaries of holding companies or independently operating but whose securities are not publicly traded.

The methodology developed in this research is couched in the capital asset pricing framework and is powerful enough to capture the parent-subsidiary relationship to the ultimate determination of benchmark rates of return for utilities that have similar risks.

To evaluate the methodology for consistency with the regulatory standards, …

Exposure Of Young Welfare Recipients To Family And Peer Receipt Of Welfare And Unemployment Benefits, Viola E. Shuart, John H. Lewko

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The current study examined exposure to family and peer receipt of unemployment and general welfare benefits for a sample of 262 unemployed youth between 16 and 24 years of age who were in receipt of social assistance. The findings reveal that exposure to receipt of benefits was most pervasive through peers, with moderate exposure via siblings and minimal exposure via parents. The findings are discussed in relation to existing explanations which suggested that the receipt of benefits is intergenerationally transmitted. It is recommended that future investigations of the cultural transmission of poverty and receipt of benefits include the influence of …

Welfare Workers As Surplus Population: A Useful Model?, Paula Dressel, Mike Sweat, Michelle Waters

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Analysts of organizational and employment issues in social welfare are in need of a more critical orientation for framing debate. We propose that an understanding of welfare workers as surplus population offers critical insights into a number of longstanding welfare concerns, including political coalitions, professional standards, and worker burnout. Empirical evidence is presented to undergird the credibility of the surplus population argument.