PA 388K: Politics & Policy in the American Welfare State
Course Objective
This elective seminar is organized around how U.S. national-level politics and social policy evolved from its 19th Century (classical) liberal origin to its (modern) liberal form around WWII, and after 1970s further into the neoliberal welfare state that we are today.
Class members can expect to (1) develop an understanding of American political history; (2) appreciate how the trajectory of social policy is embedded in that historical evolution; (3) gain an overview of social welfare programs as they are today; and (4) obtain in-depth knowledge of a specific social welfare policy strategy.
Structure of Contents
The materials in this course are organized into three segments:
- • The first segment (6 or 7 sessions) covers institutions, ideologies, identities, and interests in U.S. politics. Materials on these Four I’s along with their social policy outcomes will be covered chronologically. Class members will learn the big picture of U.S. policymaking mechanisms, political competitions, implementation capacities.
- • The second segment (6 or 7 sessions) consists of instructor-led discussions on specific policy strategies such as social insurance, public assistance, labor market interventions, affordable housing, and community development. For each strategy, there will be equal attention on program operations and on underlying political dynamics.
- • The third segment (2 or 3 sessions) is student-led presentations and discussions of specific social programs. These sessions are based on team-based research projects that class members conduct starting from Week 4 of the semester.
Expectation
Basic familiarity with American social and political history is required before the course begins. Daily newspaper reading and weekly reading of news analyses are required throughout the semester. Class member who have not developed the professional habit of news-reading (i.e., not news-feed reading) should start this practice right away after registration.
Abstention from note-taking in class is part of the professional development protocol in this class.