American Social Policy - HUMS 365 Resource Guide

Benefit-cost analysis is used to determine the value of many types of projects and their impacts, including environmental management projects and the impacts of such projects as airport construction.

As the number of homeless people has risen, homelessness has become a central feature of life in America. Broadly, homelessness is viewed as either the result of individual choices and/or a poor work ethic, or as a symptom of or response to more complex social problems.

This article presents an overview of the issue of the rate of the minimum wage in the United States.

Policy analysis is the process of evaluating the effectiveness of initiatives designed by politicians and government organizations to benefit the public.

Successful civil rights movements in the United States have included the prisoner rights movement, in which advocates have worked to improve conditions inside of the prisons and create a more just and effective penal system.

Treatment for substance use disorder first involves an evaluation of the nature of the drug or drugs used. Also essential is knowing the extent of addiction because early identification usually lessens the difficulty of overcoming the physiological and psychological effects of drug abuse. Equally important is determining the degree to which the person is committed to his or her rehabilitation. Thus, rehabilitation programs should attempt to adjust their mission and goals, as well as their therapeutic methods, to meet a wide range of patient needs and capacities.

This article will focus on social issues, public policy, and the U.S. Social Security system in particular, exploring the role of social security in four parts: an overview of the sociology of social issues and public policy; a discussion of the principles and history of the U.S. Social Security system; an analysis of the ways in which social scientists study the U.S. Social Security Insurance programs of Medicare and Medicaid; and a description of the issues associated with defining social issues. Understanding the role and purpose of social security, or social welfare, in U.S. society is vital background for all those interested in the sociology of social issues and public policy.

Welfare is a public policy concept in which government programs are introduced to help a society’s poor or disabled population reenter the workforce and care for themselves. This paper will take an in-depth look at the institution of welfare in the United States. Proceeding from a brief history of modern welfare programs, this essay will then review many of the issues that have arisen concerning this form of public policy as well as the ongoing attempts in Congress to correct these issues.

This essay critically examines social norm writings and explores some of the implications for methods of proof and research design in the social sciences.

This section analyzes the U.S. federal farm policy using the Social Fabric Matrix (SFM).

Congressional Research Service Report

This article focuses on how policy analysts address complex social issues and problems by organizing them into ethic-based analytic components and utilizing an array of quantitative and qualitative methods, including program outcome and impact evaluation,cost-benefit analysis, and assessments of local political influence on implementation process.

Objectives. To investigate the effect of minimum wage laws on adolescent birth rates in the United States. Method

Congressional Research Service Report

Journal articles about social policy analysis.

The article focuses on proposals for promoting retirement security among low-income workers in Illinois. It mentions retirement preparedness for low income workers in Illinois as a function of changes in Social Security, employer-sponsored pensions, and personal assets. It also mentions underfunding of public pensions can have a profound impact on retirement insecurity for low-income workers.

This article offers a review of welfare reform evaluation studies, summarizing research that has generated a consensus among mainstream policy analysts that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) has had few effects beyond caseload reductions and increases in employment.

The Public Policy Institute (PPI) is the focal point of public policy research, analysis and development at AARP. Led by AARP Senior Vice President Susan Reinhard, PPI develops creative policy solutions to address our common need for financial security, health care, and quality of life. Founded in 1985, PPI publishes policy analyses and provides updates on a range of topics, including current AARP priorities and emerging issues that will affect older adults in the future.

The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and innovative policy solutions. For nearly 100 years, Brookings has analyzed current and emerging issues and produced new ideas that matter—for the nation and the world

The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues.

Using data, extensive community experience and a focus on results, CSSP promotes public policies that strengthen families and protect and lift children from poverty. The Center was founded in 1979 to assist federal, state, and local governments in improving human services for low-income and other disadvantaged populations. Its mission is to effect change through the analysis of existing policies and the development of new ones.

CRS is Congress’ think tank, and its reports are relied upon by academics, businesses, judges, policy advocates, students, librarians, journalists, and policymakers for accurate and timely analysis of important policy issues. The reports are not classified and do not contain individualized advice to any specific member of Congress.

Links to the sources listed below are on this webpage along with links to lots more information. The site has "help" features throughout to assist you in understanding the website and sources included within.

Mission : To help improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.

Do their donors exert too much influence?
Once viewed as independent producers of innovative policy solutions, think tanks are facing new questions about donor influence over their work. Critics argue that wealthy benefactors or corporate interests are unduly influencing some think tanks’ policy positions.

Office of Population Affairs

Association of states for international peace, security, and cooperation, with its headquarters in New York City. The UN was established on 24 October 1945 by 51 states as a successor to the League of Nations

"WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends." (Quote is from the website itself.)