Political barriers to expanding social welfare programs in America

Sociology Discussion Responses

Response to Post #1

While I agree completely with your sentiments and your long-range goals and the values they represent, I am not so sure that providing the resources you mentioned is as realistic a solution as it may have been in prior years. In my opinion, there is actually a fundamental barrier to the goal of increasing the availability of social programs in the current political climate. Specifically, there seems to be a complete disconnect between the appreciation of the importance of social assistance programs and the stated policies being promoted by the Right Wing Conservative representatives currently in office in Washington. Across the nation, republican members of the House of Representatives (in particular) have been exhibiting a continual failure to appreciate the relative importance and social value of the very types of programs that are so desperately needed in so many impoverished communities.

Instead of prioritizing social welfare programs and assistance to the poor and middle class, Republican representatives are actually expressing a willingness to see the U.S. slip into national debt default over their refusal to consider addressing the need to conserve on public funds in the billions that are currently unavailable to social welfare programs (or any other initiatives to benefit the American populace) because they are dedicated to subsidizing corporate jets and oil company profits. In my opinion, it is unrealistic to talk about improving the availability of social welfare opportunities until that problem is resolved ethically.

Response to Post #2

I agree with you completely about the importance of addressing the domestic violence problem as well as with your characterization of the monumental significance of the issue because of the tremendous vulnerability of domestic violence victims. However, I disagree that the primary solution should necessarily be relegated to law enforcement. Naturally, law enforcement policies and training must maximize the ability of police authorities to recognize, prevent, and respond to any suspected incidence of domestic violence, but it may actually be even more important to educate the lay public about domestic violence than it is to train professionals about it. By the time domestic violence incidents attract the attention of law enforcement, the first such incident likely represents the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Moreover, the vast majority of all domestic violence probably escapes law enforcement attention. Therefore, in many respects, it may be more useful to devote resources capable of increasing awareness of what domestic violence is and to encourage the reporting of all suspected instances by family members, neighbors, and relatives. .

Response to Post #3

Your post raises a very important point about the relative quality of education systems available by virtue of income and social class. From my reading and familiarity with the subject, it does not seem that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) approach to reducing learning disparities between more privileged and less privileged communities despite this being one of the principal objectives of educational reform during the Bush administration era. I would be curious to know whether you agree with that retrospective assessment of the NCLB concept.

Additionally, I would be curious to now what types of approaches and initiatives you would propose to better achieve that objective, especially given the serious budgetary limitations to which all public institutions and systems are currently subject for the near future. In terms of advocating for specific changes in contemporary education, I would ask you what ideas and changes you would consider among the most important to devote effort to their advocacy.

Response to Post #5

I agree with your description of advocacy as something that is much more easily and effectively pursued in connection with genuinely strong personal convictions about the subject matter. It is difficult to imagine an effective advocacy generated by individuals without a genuine concern for the change they are promoting. However, I might not agree with the way you characterize the difference between change and advocacy. That is because to my mind, change would be an objective or a goal whereas advocacy would be a method or strategy for achieving that goal. In that sense, I would suggest that they cannot be compared directly in the same manner as two different objectives or two different strategies can be compared directly.

Response to Post #6

I was somewhat surprised to read in your post that you perceive the technological information gap between human services professionals and human service clients to be such an important issue. To my mind, teaching technological awareness and basic proficiency is a relatively simple matter in comparison to helping at-risk populations overcome more fundamental barriers to education and gainful employment. In my experience, many at-risk individuals require more basic vocational preparatory training such as in relation to establishing a consistent routine and keeping appointments responsibly. Moreover, many of the types of entry-level jobs available to at-risk individuals do not require significant high-tech familiarity, at least none that cannot be learned on the job. However, I would be curious to know how you envision Lewin's stages of unfreezing, change, and refreezing might manifest itself in connection with the specific area you chose for your focus.

From my limited familiarity with your topic, I would have imagined that a more important change that might be important to make is the relative apathy (even contempt sometimes) that many professionals who work continuously with at-risk populations (especially the homeless and mentally ill) may experience because of their prolonged exposure to social problems that seem to be cyclical and endless. I know that desensitization can be a problem in that regard in law enforcement and I would be curious to know how much of an issue that is in your field and what types of changes you might advocate to help achieve beneficial changes required to improve the situation.