The Policymaking Process for Social Sector Leaders

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course is designed to provide an analytic framework that enables students to understand the relationship between social problems, the policies intended to solve those problems, and the practices that result from those policies. We begin with how social problems are in part socially constructed. We then address how social policies are created and implemented across various cultural, historical, political and economic contexts. Throughout the quarter, we will examine how social problems, policies and programs are framed, reframed, and implemented, and how clients, staff members, human service organizations, and other relevant constituencies are involved in and affected by these processes. In addition to providing an overview of the relationship between social services and social policy, the course encourages critical thought about the roles social sector leaders and managers play within the policymaking process and the broader social safety net across a range of policy arenas. The course is divided into two modules. Module I addresses the social construction of social problems and development of social policies, and Module II addresses the implementation of policy. Each module includes readings and exercises that are conceptual as well as applied. This course may not be taken by Crown social work students. SSL ONLY