Public Policy Commons^™

Social Policies And Social Development - A Humanistic-Egalitarian Perspective, David G. Gil

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This essay explores the relationship of social policies and of policy-relevant societal values to social development. Its thesis is that the scope, direction, and quality of the social development process are largely shaped by the social policies and the dominant value positions of societies.

An Evaluation Of The Case Against National Income Insurance, John B. Williamson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In an earlier paper I outlined a proposal for a national income insurance plan and discussed the strengths of the approach (Williamson,1974c). Income insurance is a special case of the negative income tax or more generally of the guaranteed income. Negative income tax proposals of any kind are open to a variety of criticisms from both the left and the right. The national income insurance plan is no exception. In the present paper an attempt is made to anticipate and deal with the major arguments against the plan. Many of these arguments are equally applicable to other guaranteed income proposals. …

Self-Interest, Social Welfare Policy And Social Problems, John P. Flynn

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This writer assumes that there is a reciprocal interdependence between the providers and the receivers of social welfare programs and explores one particular aspect of that exchange. A proposition explored here is that self-interest is a dynamic in social welfare policy formulation and that such a dynamic is founded on the basic assumption of reciprocal interdependence. The perception of newlyfound self-interests obtainable in alternative social welfare policy options is examined here as a factor in inducing purposive policy change.

It Is proposed here that the common characterization of the welfare relationship as a unilateral transfer has obscured the connection between …

Ideology, Sociological Theories, And Public Policy, Norman Goroff

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

It is important that my basic assumptions about social theories be made explicit at the very outset.

1. Every social theory has implicit, if not explicit, assumptions about the nature of man/woman.

2. Every social theory has implicit, if not explicit, assumptions about the nature of society or the collectivity.

3. Every social theory has implicit, if not explicit, assumptions about the relationship of man/woman to society or to the collectivity.

These assumptions in the theories are not empirical but normative and hence social theory is ideologically based. The fact that the social theories are …

Research Data As Aides In Formulating Agency Policy, Ludwig Geismar, Isabel Wolock

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

Much is being written these days about the role of evaluation in the formulation of social policy. While few writers question the need for basing policy on systematic evaluation a good deal of the literature appears to focus on the obstacles in Larrying out as well as applying evaluative research. By contrast, the number of studies which in the eyes of critics measure up to minimum standards of scientific adequacy appears to be exceedingly small. Regardless of the problems inherent in the use of research data for policy formulation, the dearth of good studies constitutes …