CHAPTER 1: JOINING A TRADITION OF SOCIAL REFORM
This chapter defines social policy and discusses some reasons why social policies are necessary to
advance social justice. It defines policy practice and policy advocacy, analyzes challenges
encountered by policy advocates, and discusses how ideology shapes many policy positions and
conflicts. It also invites students to join a tradition of policy advocacy in the social work profession,
and discusses both why policy advocacy is important during an era of devolution and technology,
and what perspectives are needed by policy advocates.
CORE KNOWLEDGE
After studying this chapter, students should understand how to:
a. seek changes in policies to improve the well-being of members of vulnerable
populations
b. seek policy reforms that are in the general interest
c. work from an ecological or systems perspective
d. change many kinds of policies, including informal ones
e. prioritize policy changes that assist oppressed populations
f. encounter and surmount barriers to reform
g. join a tradition of social reform in American society and in the social work profession
h. develop attributes that support policy advocacy
i. try to change the composition of government by participating in electoral politics
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Take any major social problem in contemporary society. Identify an array of policy
enactments that have addressed or redressed this problem in recent American history.
,2. Analyze historical cleavages within social work with respect to policy advocacy such as the
schism between Jane Addams and Mary Richmond. Do such schisms exist in contemporary
social work?
3. Has “policy devolution” made policy advocacy more or less important?
4. How does policy advocacy allow social workers to address the needs of vulnerable
populations? Discuss the concept of structural discrimination as it relates to homelessness.
(See Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.1 “Mapping Structural Discrimination”)
5. Discuss the following statement: “It is not feasible or practical for most social workers,
whose primary responsibilities lie elsewhere, to engage in the practice of policy. Therefore,
this kind of practice should be reserved for persons who specialize in it.”
6. Are direct-service social workers ill equipped to engage in the practice of policy? What
sensitivities and skills facilitate their participation in policy practice?
7. By using the mental health system as an example, discuss how social services have become
politicized in the past three decades by identifying controversies that have arisen (e.g.,
around commitments, use of medications, definitions of mental illness, and discrimination
against racial minorities and women).
8. List several ways that policies have affected your admission into your social work program
and continue to affect how you are required to meet the criteria for earning a BSW or MSW.
After you list them, discuss what you like or don’t like about them and what you would do
differently.
9. Discuss the four kinds of policy-practice skills that policy practitioners need. Why will not a
single skill suffice?
10. Identify the eight policy tasks that policy practitioners frequently undertake.
11. Define social policy – and discuss different kinds of social policies.
12. Are personal preferences the same as social policies?
,13. Discuss some attributes of effective policy advocates.
14. What are key challenges that policy advocates encounter that distinguish their work from
direct service practitioners?
POSSIBLE ASSIGNMENTS
1. In an agency with which you are familiar, define (a) a specific social problem that is
addressed by its staff and (b) collective strategy, as influenced by specific rules, regulations,
procedures, and objectives, that shapes the activities of staff with respect to that problem.
2. In an agency with which you are familiar, identify some informal policies (i.e., collectively
shared norms) that shape the actions of staff in addressing a social problem. Also discuss
how the personal orientations of a specific staff member influence her or his approaches to
the delivery of services to specific kinds of clients.
3. In an agency with which you are familiar, identify policies that have different points of
origin, i.e., stem from sources external to an agency, from high-level sources within an
agency, and from specific units within the agency.
ASSIGNMENTS RELATED TO POLICY ADVOCACY CHALLENGES
Use one of the Policy Advocacy Challenges in Chapter 1 for in-class or take-home
assignments, such as brief essays. Students can:
Map structural discrimination for a specific vulnerable population, such as in Policy
Advocacy Challenge 1.1, “Mapping Structural Discrimination.”
Discuss how the negative experience of one individual can lead to policy change that
positively impacts countless others, such as in Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.2.
View the video clip in Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.6. Discuss how case-based advocacy
differs from policy advocacy. Identify specific needs shared by large numbers of
, persons after Hurricane Katrina that could only be addressed through policy
advocacy. Discuss how even clinical social workers can engage in policy advocacy.
INTERNET EXERCISES
Have students read Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.5. Ask them to:
Visit the website of their city or state and turn in a print-out on a policy issue or
development from it.
Use the home page of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to find, print,
and turn in an article which is related to a specific policy issue that interests them.
This chapter defines social policy and discusses some reasons why social policies are necessary to
advance social justice. It defines policy practice and policy advocacy, analyzes challenges
encountered by policy advocates, and discusses how ideology shapes many policy positions and
conflicts. It also invites students to join a tradition of policy advocacy in the social work profession,
and discusses both why policy advocacy is important during an era of devolution and technology,
and what perspectives are needed by policy advocates.
CORE KNOWLEDGE
After studying this chapter, students should understand how to:
a. seek changes in policies to improve the well-being of members of vulnerable
populations
b. seek policy reforms that are in the general interest
c. work from an ecological or systems perspective
d. change many kinds of policies, including informal ones
e. prioritize policy changes that assist oppressed populations
f. encounter and surmount barriers to reform
g. join a tradition of social reform in American society and in the social work profession
h. develop attributes that support policy advocacy
i. try to change the composition of government by participating in electoral politics
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Take any major social problem in contemporary society. Identify an array of policy
enactments that have addressed or redressed this problem in recent American history.
,2. Analyze historical cleavages within social work with respect to policy advocacy such as the
schism between Jane Addams and Mary Richmond. Do such schisms exist in contemporary
social work?
3. Has “policy devolution” made policy advocacy more or less important?
4. How does policy advocacy allow social workers to address the needs of vulnerable
populations? Discuss the concept of structural discrimination as it relates to homelessness.
(See Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.1 “Mapping Structural Discrimination”)
5. Discuss the following statement: “It is not feasible or practical for most social workers,
whose primary responsibilities lie elsewhere, to engage in the practice of policy. Therefore,
this kind of practice should be reserved for persons who specialize in it.”
6. Are direct-service social workers ill equipped to engage in the practice of policy? What
sensitivities and skills facilitate their participation in policy practice?
7. By using the mental health system as an example, discuss how social services have become
politicized in the past three decades by identifying controversies that have arisen (e.g.,
around commitments, use of medications, definitions of mental illness, and discrimination
against racial minorities and women).
8. List several ways that policies have affected your admission into your social work program
and continue to affect how you are required to meet the criteria for earning a BSW or MSW.
After you list them, discuss what you like or don’t like about them and what you would do
differently.
9. Discuss the four kinds of policy-practice skills that policy practitioners need. Why will not a
single skill suffice?
10. Identify the eight policy tasks that policy practitioners frequently undertake.
11. Define social policy – and discuss different kinds of social policies.
12. Are personal preferences the same as social policies?
,13. Discuss some attributes of effective policy advocates.
14. What are key challenges that policy advocates encounter that distinguish their work from
direct service practitioners?
POSSIBLE ASSIGNMENTS
1. In an agency with which you are familiar, define (a) a specific social problem that is
addressed by its staff and (b) collective strategy, as influenced by specific rules, regulations,
procedures, and objectives, that shapes the activities of staff with respect to that problem.
2. In an agency with which you are familiar, identify some informal policies (i.e., collectively
shared norms) that shape the actions of staff in addressing a social problem. Also discuss
how the personal orientations of a specific staff member influence her or his approaches to
the delivery of services to specific kinds of clients.
3. In an agency with which you are familiar, identify policies that have different points of
origin, i.e., stem from sources external to an agency, from high-level sources within an
agency, and from specific units within the agency.
ASSIGNMENTS RELATED TO POLICY ADVOCACY CHALLENGES
Use one of the Policy Advocacy Challenges in Chapter 1 for in-class or take-home
assignments, such as brief essays. Students can:
Map structural discrimination for a specific vulnerable population, such as in Policy
Advocacy Challenge 1.1, “Mapping Structural Discrimination.”
Discuss how the negative experience of one individual can lead to policy change that
positively impacts countless others, such as in Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.2.
View the video clip in Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.6. Discuss how case-based advocacy
differs from policy advocacy. Identify specific needs shared by large numbers of
, persons after Hurricane Katrina that could only be addressed through policy
advocacy. Discuss how even clinical social workers can engage in policy advocacy.
INTERNET EXERCISES
Have students read Policy Advocacy Challenge 1.5. Ask them to:
Visit the website of their city or state and turn in a print-out on a policy issue or
development from it.
Use the home page of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to find, print,
and turn in an article which is related to a specific policy issue that interests them.
