Social Welfare Commons^™

The Latent Functions Of Welfare And Need-Satisfaction Of The Disadvantaged, Zeev Ben-Sira

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In a study carried out among a representative sample of Jewish Israeli adults, a paradigm of need-satisfaction by direct welfare assistance has been developed and, to a great extent, empirically supported. Multivariate analysis revealed that, despite the fact that it is recognized as indispensible in facilitating basic living conditions, direct welfare assistance, whatever its kind, predicts frustration rather than need-satisfaction. The data ascertain that attributing to the welfare assistance the latent functions of preserving consumers' inferiority and of pursuing the agencies' and the welfare workers' interests rather than those of the consumers, constitute a major factor in the resulting feeling …

Breaking Even: Preface To The Revised Edition, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Breaking Even: Financial Management in Nonprofit Human Services (Temple University Press. 1980) was the first book-length discussion of nonprofit financial management ever published in English. This preface was prepared, along with several new or rewritten chapters and additional changes for a possible revised edition of the book. The publisher decided not to do a second edition and the original first edition continued to sell in its small market niche for 25 years.

Automating The Social Work Office: Science Fictions And Practical Realities, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Social work was not originally an office-based profession but has become one in the past few decades. In the process, the information technology of social work practice has changed relatively little. Social work practice has yet to develop unique computer applications, comparable to developments in medicine, law, architecture, education and other fields. Most interest in computer applications in social work to date has been clerical and made use of off-the-shelf applications. The potential of currently available technology for office automation in social work offers the prospect not only for important productivity improvement, but also for a means to dealing with …

Assessing Child Maltreatment: The Role Of Testing, Joel S. Milner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Due to the recent development of test instruments designed to assist professionals in the evaluation of child maltreatment cases, social service professionals must become familiar with issues related to test construction and use. The purpose of the present paper is to provide the reader with a discussion of issues related to test selection and use. This article, however, is not Intended to be a substitute for a basic understanding of the test validity and reliability. The paper begins with a review of different prevention modes and discusses how each mode uses test data. Next, test use as it relates to …

From Social Welfare To Welfare Society: A Humane World Beyond Social Welfare?, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

In the 1980's, the relationship of social welfare activities to the future has been dramatically altered. Until the conservative ascendency of the Reagan government, the future of social welfare was defined largely in terms of the incremental welfare state, characterized by gradual expansion of tax supported programs and benefits, with periodic policy refinements and extensions of benefits and coverages to new populations. Since 1980, all sorts of "doom and gloom" has been spread--mostly linked to short-term developments. This paper is an effort to propose a moderately optimistic alternative future for one segment of the social welfare system--personal care services. In …

Private Human Services In Welfare Society, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper is an effort to propose a moderately optimistic future for the personal care sector of human services. It is proposed that the best available future scenario for personal care services between now and the year 2019 is to concentrate on privatization of service delivery on a small-scale basis. Government, in this model should be limited largely to three roles: 1) source of venture capital; 2) regulation of service delivery; and 3) income maintenance for the poorest populations. In this future, the main burden of personal care services will be carried by the private sector. Dramatic improvements in the …

Feminist Theory And Social Policy Or Why Is Welfare So Hard To Reform?, Dorothy C. Miller

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

More than 10 years ago Henry Aaron wrote a classic paper entitled "Why Is Welfare So Hard to Reform?" (1973). This paper answers that question from the perspective of the new discipline of Women's Studies. The author suggests that the use of feminist theories; notably those of Hartsock and Chodorow; can further one's recognition and understanding of male bias in social policy development. Tracing the history of U.S. welfare policies for women and children the analysis provides explanations for the differential treatment of women in the welfare system and the failure of work strategies to increase poor women's economic independence. …

The Effect Of Changes In The Federal Disability Programs On State And Local General Assistance Programs, Courtney Scherer Petersen, Eric R. Kingson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Since early 1981, there has been a large-scale removal of persons from the SSI and Social Security disability programs as a result of the Social Security Disability Amendments of 1980. This article reports on the findings of a national survey designed to determine whether the removal of persons from the federal disability programs had an impact on state and local General Assistance programs and the extent to which older recipients of General Assistance are in need of long-term income assistance for health and other reasons.

Some states and jurisdictions have noticed an increase in applications as a result of federal …

The Success Of Companion Animal Management Programs: A Historical And Statistical Review, Andrew N. Rowan

Management and Control of Companion Animal Populations Collection

In the early 1970's a surge of articles in the lay and scientific press brought the burgeoning problem of pet overpopulation to the attention of the American public. The spark for this concern appears to have been an article by Carl Djerassi (who was prominent in the development of oral contraceptives for humans) and his colleagues in the unlikely forum of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Djerassi argued that an efficient means of birth control was also required for the pet population (Djerassi et al, 1973). In 1974, following Djerassi's article Alan Beck, in an address to city officials described …

Urban Public Services: What The Future Holds, Robert Morris

New England Journal of Public Policy

Health and welfare are usually considered secondary or peripheral concerns of modern society. The article considers how questions about the provision of social welfare are imbedded in the economic, social, moral, and political fabric of contemporary America and New England. Underlying trends of economic, social, and attitudinal change are outlined, and implications for the future are considered. The article also considers the role of universities in equipping the next generation of citizens to cope more effectively with the complex issues that are forcing a restructuring of urban services.

Health And Social Welfare Needs Of The Elderly: A Preliminary Study, Baxter Wright, Bruce A. Thyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In a period of shrinking fiscal resources it is especially important that budgetary decision-making processes be based upon empirical data relating to the actual health and social service needs of the elderly. The present study consisted of a comprehensive survey of the social service needs of a random sample of 75 normative elderly citizens drawn from a multi-ethnic population. The results provide a preliminary data-base for administrative and policy-making bodies to allocate scarce social service resources.

In an era of shrinking fiscal resources and drastic cuts in the provision of human services, funding decisions and budgetary allotments are often made …

Ideology And Opportunity In Social Work During The New Deal Years, Norma Kolko Phillips

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As the country moved from a dominant ideology of voluntarism towards the welfare state during the New Deal years, conflicts and compromises occurred within the social work profession that required a definition of the role the profession would assume with relation to the public sector of social welfare. The nature of the relationship that evolved between social work and government, and the accommodations made by each during the New Deal years, and particularly around the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935, are examined.

Public Preferences Concerning Future Directions In Social Security, David L. Klemmack, Lucinda L. Roff

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Using data collected from a probability sample of 1030 adult Alabamians, this study segmented respondents among those favoring limited expansion, maintenance, and limited contraction of the social security retirement program. Those favoring some expansion in the system tended to be less well educated and affluent, and more likely to be retired, nonwhite, and to identify themselves as Democrats than did those favoring maintenance or some limited contraction of the system. The findings suggest the potential for cleavages among the population, based primarily on socioeconomic status, in ongoing discussions about the system's future.

Determinant Factors In The Utilization Process Of Social Services In Saudi Arabia, Fahd Abdullah Ali Dileym

Dissertations

The Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare and the Deputy Ministry of Social Security provide a spectrum of social service programs and activities. However, utilization of the designated services is incapacitated by the existing gap between the potential clients and the social service providers. Certain barriers have contributed significantly to the clients' underutilization behavior of the assigned services.

Accordingly, this study had two purposes: (a) to determine whether social services provided by the Deputy Ministries of Social Welfare and Social Security are perceived by administrators, social workers, and college students to be underutilized; and (b) to compare the perceptions of the …

The Origins Of English Aging Policy: A Re-Examination Of The Cyclical Theory Of Social Relief, John B. Williamson, Kenneth J. Branco

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines the explanatory power of Piven and Cloward's cyclical theory of social relief through an exploration of policies in England from the twelfth through the nineteenth century. While there is evidence of a cyclical trend between restrictive and liberal policies in this period, we find that those shifts cannot consistently be explained by social turmoil. There is also evidence of a long-term trend toward a more restrictive aging policy which is unaccounted for by cyclical theory. This trend can be better explained by a more basic set of ideas uncerlying cyclical theory, i.e., the needs of a capitalist …

Job Satisfaction And Job Performance: A Meta-Analysis, Michelle Iaffaldano [Graef], Paul M. Muchinsky

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The assumption that job satisfaction and job performance are related has much intuitive appeal, despite the fact that reviewers of this literature have concluded there is no strong pervasive relation between these two variables. The present meta-analytic study demonstrates that (a) the best estimate of the true population correlation between satisfaction and performance is relatively low (.17); (b) much of the variability in results obtained in previous research has been due to the use of small sample sizes, whereas unreliable measurement of the satisfaction and performance constructs has contributed relatively little to this observed variability in correlations; and (c) nine …

The Concept Of Employment In Social Welfare Programs: The Need For Change In Concept And Practice, D. Macarov

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social welfare and social work practice are based upon and limited by concepts concerning the role of work in society. These include coverage, vestedness, administration, and the wage-stop. As human labor becomes quantitatively less important in the technological society, and as attitudes toward work change, the role of social work should become proactive -- leading toward necessary and desirable changes, including new meanings of the concept work and new methods of distributing income, rather than continuing to attempt to shore up an increasingly outmoded systems of values and structures.

In examining the content of the major social work textbooks published …

Afdc, Food Stamp, And Medicaid Utilization: A Research Note, Mark R. Rank, Paul R. Voss

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

During the past 20 years, social welfare programs have been expanding both in terms of federal and state expenditures, and in terms of numbers of recipients. Among the programs involved in this expansion were Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamps, and Medicaid. However, knowledge of the sheer numbers of people and dollars involved provides at best an incomplete picture of these social welfare programs. The researcher, policy planner, and government administrator must also have an understanding of who is at risk of utilizing welfare in the general population. Such knowledge may provide insight into the present and future …

Boston In Transition: A Financial Analysis, Raymond L. Flynn, Financial Analysis Research Group, John W. Mccormack Institute Of Public Affairs, University Of Massachusetts Boston

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

The new Mayor of Boston must earn the confidence of the taxpaying public in his financial leadership by employing credibility and candor in the management of city affairs.

To begin the process of re-enfranchising Bostonians who have come to mistrust financial decisions seemingly determined by political calculations, the new Mayor must make an accurate disclosure of the City's financial picture, rely on the commitment of the state to properly support its capital city and restore integrity and strong management controls to government operations. Recommendations for budget cuts, hiring freezes and adjustments in tax rates, when they are necessary, should only …

Shelter Poverty In Boston: Problem And Program, Michael E. Stone

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

This paper argues, first, that most housing problems—in Boston and throughout the nation—are ultimately the result of the squeeze between inadequate incomes, on the one hand, and the cost of profitably providing housing on the other. It is also argued that housing cost and incomes together are the most decisive determinants of the overall quality of life of families and communities. Third, it is contended that the long history of inadequate attempts to cope with the affordabiiity problem have not only failed to solve the problem, but have indeed contributed significantly to the broader and serious problems of the overall …

Ideology In Social Welfare Policy Instruction: An Examination Of Required Readings, Paul Lyons

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A national survey of required readings in social welfare policy courses indicates that a liberal, pro-welfare state ideology is predominant. Such an ideology rests on the concepts of modernization and industrialization within a structural-functionalist methodology. This predominant model of social welfare policy suggests the inevitability of the welfare state while effectively excluding serious consideration of both conservative and socialist alternatives.

Case Law And Social Welfare: A Framework For Analysis, Jan L. Hagen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper illustrates an approach for analyzing case law within the framework of social welfare programs and policies. Drawing on a framework first developed by Burns and later expanded by Gilbert and Specht, selected court decisions related to income maintenance are categorized on the basis of four parameters: basis of social allocation, the nature of social provisions, the structure of the delivery system, and the method of financing. Unlike the legal framework typically used to analyze court decisions, an assessment of court decisions along the parameters of social welfare policies and programs highlights the court's role and its importance in …

Social Welfare And Family Support: The Nigerian Experience, Christopher P. Ekpe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The African family has been the basic structure that performed the functions of a social system even before contact with European and other white cultures. These included not only the organization of behavior and economy, the preservation of culture, the realization of political goals, the control and integration of the members but also the provision services classified today as social welfare.

However, sweeping changes have been taking place in the African family and these have seriously affected its function as a social system. The roles of men and women, religion, education, in short, the African culture itself has been experiencing …

Field Hearing On Displaced Workers: Meeting Their Special Needs: [Testimony], Wayne R. Wendling

Testimonies

No abstract provided.

Welfare Spending In The American States: A Comparative Perspective, W. Joseph Heffernan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The federal-state system of welfare is the result of a compromise between the desire for national standards and the opportunity for each state to have its own adaptation. As a compromise, there is a constant tension in the system. During the 1970's, there was a pressure toward federalization, but the states have preserved their diversity. The Reagan Administration has clearly indicated a desire to "return" greater freedom to the states to chart their own course. The purpose of this paper is to identify variations among the states in such a way as to identify those states with consistently "high" or …

Legislative Evaluation Of Social Welfare Programs: The Process And Consequences, Patricia K. Freeman, William Lyons

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Program review has increased substantially in recent years. There has been concern that the upsurge in policy evaluation would be detrimental to social welfare programs, where data is often unavailable, little agreement exists concerning specific goals and documenting success is often virtually impossible. In this analysis we compared the program evaluation of social welfare programs with non-social welfare programs. The review process differed substantially as did the recommendation made as a result of the review. Social welfare programs faced more criticisms than non-social welfare programs. However, the criticisms were less serious. Changes prior to the publication of the evaluation report …

Recycling The Poor Laws: A History Of Welfare, Cross-Sectional And Longitudinal Statistical Studies Concerning General Relief Policies In California, Carolyn Lea Clark-Daniels

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Should Cairo Be Governed?, Earl L.(Tim) Sullivan

Faculty Book Chapters

This work on urban research strategies in Egypt is the product of several factors. First of all is the challenge, excitement, diversity and stimulation of living in Egyptian cities, Cairo above all. Not only are Egyptian cities rooted in deep antiquity, but they have the richly stratified layers of a host of great civilizations. Modern urban Egypt is immeasurably complex in its own right, but its quite astounding past only adds to its wonderment. Thus, the chief inspiration for this publication is the wealthy cultural and historical context in which these scholars were assembled and where they sought to interpret …

Urban Welfare And Administration: Discussion, Richard Lobban

Faculty Book Chapters

This work on urban research strategies in Egypt is the product of several factors. First of all is the challenge, excitement, diversity and stimulation of living in Egyptian cities, Cairo above all. Not only are Egyptian cities rooted in deep antiquity, but they have the richly stratified layers of a host of great civilizations. Modern urban Egypt is immeasurably complex in its own right, but its quite astounding past only adds to its wonderment. Thus, the chief inspiration for this publication is the wealthy cultural and historical context in which these scholars were assembled and where they sought to interpret …

Categories In Urban Political Economy: Discussion, Richard Lobban

Faculty Book Chapters

This work on urban research strategies in Egypt is the product of several factors. First of all is the challenge, excitement, diversity and stimulation of living in Egyptian cities, Cairo above all. Not only are Egyptian cities rooted in deep antiquity, but they have the richly stratified layers of a host of great civilizations. Modern urban Egypt is immeasurably complex in its own right, but its quite astounding past only adds to its wonderment. Thus, the chief inspiration for this publication is the wealthy cultural and historical context in which these scholars were assembled and where they sought to interpret …