Introduction to Social Policy
Social Policy 201Mondays and Wednesdays
Spring 201711:00 to 12:20
School of Education and Social PolicyTech L160
Northwestern University
Teaching Assistant:
Instructor: Jerome Stermer
Course Description:
This course will introduce students to social policy through a broad overview of some of the major social welfare, healthcare, education and criminal justice programs in the U.S. coupled with an assessment of the underlying values that shaped their evolution. A substantial portion of the course will be devoted to policies designed to realize our national aspiration to secure equal opportunity for all Americans as well as to moderate what may be deemed unacceptable inequalities of wealth. Students will explore the interaction of various policies and programs including Social Security, cash assistance (welfare), taxation, child care subsidies, early childhood education, criminal justice, public education, as well as Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 as well as the nation’s current drug policies. Each student will be given the opportunity to delve more deeply into the complexities of a specific policy of his/her choice, and will in the process develop skills to analyze and offer recommendations for policy enhancement.
Course Requirements:
Students will be expected to become familiar with the basic purposes and constructs of contemporary social policy.
In addition to the assigned readings and lectures, a number of shorter individual and group assignments will be given with detailed instructions and deadlines.
Each student is required to write a term paper (10 –14 pages in length) on a topic of her or his choice. The topic must be proposed no later than April 10 and the paper is due May 8.
Students are expected to attend and participate in all class sessions.
There will be two essay exams. A mid-term exam will be taken in class. The final will be a take-home exam.
Mid-term exam (in class):April 26
Final exam (take home): June 5 (due by 5:00pm)
Class Participation:
Participation will be judged based on your overall engagement in the discussions and group activities. Students are expected to come to class prepared by reading and reflecting on the assigned materials in advance. I encourage you to volunteer your thoughts and to interact both with me, our teaching assistant, and your classmates. Because social policy decisions in American life are always the result of collective thinking and give and take, we will endeavor, in some small way, to reflect that process in our class. In assessing the group assignments I will consider your level of engagement and creativity to be as important as the substance of your ideas.
ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Any student requesting accommodations related to a disability or other condition is required to register with AccessibleNU(; 847-467-5530) and provide professors with an accommodation notification from AccessibleNU,preferably within the first two weeks of class. All information will remain confidential.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Students in this course are required to comply with the policies found in the booklet, "Academic Integrity at Northwestern University: A Basic guide". All papers submitted for credit in this course must be submitted electronically unless otherwise instructed by the professor. Your written work may be tested for plagiarized content. For details regarding academic integrity at Northwestern or to download the guide, visit:
Course grading:
Note: Assuming that a student fully participates in all aspects of this course, the student’s final grade will generally be reflective of his/her best efforts, rather than premised on an uncompromising, mathematical formula. In this spirit, the following depiction of class activities can be relied upon as a rough estimate of how final grades will be determined.
Class participation, group assignments, and class presentations20%
Short assignments10%
Term Paper30%
Mid-term exam20%
Final exam20%
REQUIRED READINGS
- Books and Reports:
A Young Person’s Guide to Social Security, 3rd edition. January, 2016. Kathryn Anne Edwards, Anna Turner and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez. Economic Policy Institute and National Academy of Social Insurance. This report is available on line.
Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap. Richard Rothstein. 2004. Washington, D.C., Economic Policy Institute.
Social Insurance: America’s Neglected Heritage and Contested Future, 2014, Theodore R. Marmor et al, CQ Press
The New Jim Crow: Michelle Alexander, 2010. New York, The New Press.
What Government Can Do: Dealing with Poverty and Inequality. Benjamin I. Page and James R. Simmons. 2000. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
ARTICLES
Baby Doe: A Political History of Tragedy (Annals of Children’s Welfare), Jill LePore. The New Yorker, February 1, 2016.
A Candidate’s Guide to Immigration: Answers to the Tough Questions, The Immigration Policy Center,
Crumbling American Dreams, Robert Putnam, in The New York Times, August 3, 2013.
The Eviction Economy, Matthew Desmond, in The New York Times, March 6, 2016.
Global Migration: A World Ever More on the Move, in The New York Times, Week in Review, June 26, 2010.
Growth Has Been Good For Decades. So Why Hasn’t Poverty Declined? Neil Irwin, in The New York Times, June 4, 2014.
Harsh Treatment, A series of articles in the Chicago Tribune by David Jackson, Gary Marx et. al. from December, 2014 through March, 2015.
Her Most Difficult Call:When is a mother so troubled, or troubling, that a welfare worker must take her kids from her? Daniel Bergner. New York Times Sunday Magazine July 23, 2006.
Inequality Is Not Inevitable, Joseph E. Stiglitz. The New York Times, June 27, 2014.
Introduction to Unemployment Insurance, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
National Health Insurance: A Brief History of Reform Efforts in the U.S. Kaiser Family Foundation, March, 2009.
In Everybody’s Best Interests: Why Reforming Child Support Distribution Makes Sense for Government and Families, Vicki Turetsky, The Center For Law And Social Policy, Policy Brief, Child Support Series, September 2005, Brief No. 1.
Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All Fifty States. January, 2015. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, June 2014, pp.54 - 71
The Lost Art of Democratic Narrative: Story Time. Robert B. Reich March 28. 2005.
The Mismeasure of Poverty, Sheldon Danziger, NY Times, September 18, 2013.
Raising Young Children To The Top Of The Policy Agenda: Lessons From Illinois, Rima Shore, The Ounce of Prevention Fund, December, 2006.
Science, Policy, And The Young Developing Child: Closing The Gap Between What We Know And What We Do, Jack P. Shonkoff, MD, The Ounce of Prevention Fund, 2004.
Seeing the Spectrum:A New History of Autism. Steven Shapin. The New Yorker, January 25, 2016.
Summary of the Affordable Care Act. Kaiser Family Foundation. April. 2013.
Swamp Nurse:What’s the best hope for the first child of a poor mother? Katherine Boo. The New Yorker. February 6, 2006.
Where are States Today? Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility Levels for Adults, Children, and Pregnant Women. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
Workers Compensation Laws: State-by-State Comparison, National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Workers Compensation Policy: General. Society for Human Resource Management.
RECOMMENDED READINGS
American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare. 2004. Jason DeParle. New York, Viking.
The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble. 2005. Nancy J. Altman. Hoboken, New Jersey. John Wiley and Sons.
Between the World and Me. 2015, Ta-Nehisi Coates. New York, Spiegel & Grau.
New Ideas From Dead Economists. 2007. Todd G. Buchholz. New York. The Penguin Group
Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn’t Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All. 2014. Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson. New York. The New Press.
“They Take Our Jobs” and 20 other Myths about Immigration. 2007. Aviva Chomsky. Boston. Beacon Press.
Useful Web Sites
Annie E. Casey Foundation – Kids Count….
Brookings Institution….
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities….
Century Foundation….
Child Trends….
Children’s Defense Fund….
Demos
Economic Policy Institute
Families USA….
Future of Children (Packard Foundation)….
Governing Magazine: sign up for daily updates
Heritage Foundation….
Institute for Policy Research (Northwestern University)….
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
National Conference of State Legislatures….
National Governor’s Association….
National Institute for Early Education Research (Rutgers)….
Pew Center on the States
Urban Institute….
Introduction to Social Policy
Spring 2017
Class Topics and Assignments
Mar 27 Class 1
Introduction
Course overview, Goals and Expectations
The Lost Art of Democratic Narrative: Story Time. Robert B. Reich March 28. 2005.
Economic Policy, the Great Divide, Debt and Infrastructure
Brainstorming Assignment due next class (March 29)
March 29 Class 2
Poverty, Low Income Work and the Federal Poverty Level
Irwin, Growth Has Been Good For Decades. So Why Hasn’t Poverty Declined?
Putnam, Crumbling American Dreams
Desmond, The Eviction Economy
Page and Simmons Chapter 2 (pp 11-31)
The Mismeasure of Poverty, Sheldon Danziger,
Marmor et al, Social Insurance, chapter 5 (pp. 74 – 76)
Brainstorming Assignment due today
Group Assignmentdue April 3
Term Paper Assignment: Proposed Topic due April 10 – Term Paper due May 8
April 3 Class 3
Group Presentations: Round 1
April 5Class 4
Group Presentations: Round 2
April 10Class 5
The Purposes of Government & The Function of Social Policy
Page & Simmons, chapters 1-3
Marmor et al, chapter 1, (pp 3 -13).
Term paper topic proposal due today!!
April 12Class 6
Social Insurance
Edwards et al, A Young Person’s Guide to Social Security
Page & Simmons, chapter 4
Marmor et al,“Social Insurance,” chapters 3 (pp. 34 – 42), 4 (pp. 47 – 59), 6, 8, 9, 10 & 12 (pp. 216 – 227)
April 17Class 7
Social Insurance Continued
Business Supports
Introduction to Unemployment Insurance, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Workers Compensation Laws: State-by-State Comparison, National Federation of Independent Businesses
Workers Compensation Policy: General. Society for Human Resource Management
ACA Assignment due April 24
April 19Class 8
Healthcare
Page & Simmons, chapter 8 pp. 269 - 273
Marmor et al, Social Insurance, chapters 7 & 12 (pp. 227 – 238)
National Health Insurance, Kaiser Family Foundation.
Summary of the Affordable Care Act, Kaiser Family Foundation.
Where are States Today? Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility Levels for Adults, Children, and Pregnant Women. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
April 24Class 9
Healthcarecontinued
ACA Assignment due
Review for Mid Term
April 26Class 10
Mid Term - in class
Education Assignment – due May 3
May 1Class 11
Human Services I: Supporting People with Disabilities
Steven Shapin. Seeing the Spectrum:A New History of Autism.
Disabled, Confined and Longing to Go Home–(
May 3Class 12
Public Education: Can we really leave no child behind?
Rothstein, Class and Schools
Page & Simmons,chapter 6
Education Assignment due today
May 8Class 13
Early Care and Education, Home Visiting and Child Care
Boo,Swamp Nurse
Shonkoff, Science, Policy, and the Young Developing Child: Closing the Gap Between What We Know and What We Do.
Term Paper due Today!!
May 10Class 14
Immigration: the original U.S. social policy
The Candidate Packet
DeParle, Global Migration: A World Ever More on the Move
Immigration Group Assignment due May 17
May 15Class 15
Fair Taxes and the Earned Income Credit
Page & Simmons, chapter 5
Who Pays: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
May 17Class 16
Immigration Group Reports
May 22Class 17
Mass Incarceration as Social Policy
Alexander, The New Jim Crow, Introduction, Chapters. 1 — 4
May 24Class 18
Human Services II: Child Welfare
Jill LePore. Baby Doe: A Political History of Tragedy (Annals of Children’s Welfare)
Harsh Treatment, A series of articles in the Chicago Tribune by David Jackson, Gary Marx et. al. from December, 2014 through March, 2015.
May 31Class 19
Review
Take-home final exam distributed
June 5Final Exam due by 5:00 pm
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