Social Policy & Ecological Systems

• These are flashcard notes relating to Social policy, Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory, systems theory, the dialectical perspective, types of policy, policy models, demographics of children, child well-being, mental health, childcare, fetal welfare, poverty, and education

Social Policy

• Social policy involves direct government action to enhance citizens' well-being.
• Examples of social policies include education, crime prevention, and healthcare.

Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory

• This theory explains how multiple systems interact to influence development
• These systems include:
  • Microsystem: The immediate environment (family, school, peers) exert the most direct influence.
  • Mesosystem: Interactions between elements within the microsystem, such as parents interacting with the school.
  • Exosystem: External influences that indirectly affect the individual, like neighbors or a parent's workplace.
  • Macrosystem: The overarching cultural and political system.
• Bidirectional influences refers to the interaction of elements across all levels

Systems Theory Components

• Wholeness: Considering the complete picture.
• Rules: Understanding policies.
• Boundaries: Recognizing how policies impact decision-making.
• Homeostasis/Morphogenesis: Balancing stability and change.
• Feedback Loops: Continual evaluation and adaptation.
• Hierarchy: Recognizing that powerful policies tend to endure.
• Circular Causality: Acknowledging that issues have multiple causes.
• Equifinality: Understanding that there are multiple paths to the same outcome.

Inputs in Systems Theory

• Demand Inputs: Represent the need for scarce resources, potentially shifting them between groups.
• Support Inputs: Reflect widespread agreement that can influence voting decisions.

Dialectical Perspective

• This perspective relates to ethical/moral decision-making.
• All things are a result of ongoing contradictions between opposing viewpoints.
• This happens through thesis and antithesis, from which a synthesis arises.

Dialectical Theory of Child Development

• Development occurs through interactions between inner/biological, individual/psychological, outer/physical, and social/cultural factors.

Baxter and Montgomery Perspective

• Focuses on contradictions in human relationships:
  • Totality
  • Change
  • Contradiction
  • Praxis: Understanding something by knowing what it's not.

Systems/Dialectical Model

• Social policy is enacted, maintained, and changed through dynamic conflicts between different points of view.
• Power dynamics significantly influence social policy.
• Requires understanding all positions, ethical implications, identifying common elements, finding common ground, or developing new positions.

Convergent and Divergent Thinking

• Convergent Thinking: Involves finding one logical and well-reasoned solution to a specific problem.
• Divergent Thinking: Acknowledges the existence of multiple viable solutions simultaneously while seeking the ultimate solution.

Types of Policy

• Distributive Policy: Concerns the allocation of services, funds, or assets.
• Regulatory Policy: Sets rules and guidelines to achieve specific goals.
• Self-Regulatory Policy: Established by a group to further their own interests.
• Redistributive Policy: Shifts resources from one group to another.

Policy Models

• Rationalism/Comprehensive Model: Aims to maximize the greatest good for humankind. A weakness is difficulty abandoning the policy even if it does not work
• Elitism Model: Relies on a small group of experts to shape policy. A weakness is that it can only benefit a select few
• Process Model: Emphasizes a coherent sequence of actions in policy development like problem recognition, estimation of factors, consideration on the agenda, evaluation and address it, concrete steps to implement it. A weakness is too much attention to the process
• Group Theory Model: Involves groups advocating for specific policies. A weakness is a focus on self-interests
• Incremental Theory Model: Suggests that changes occur through small, unplanned adjustments over time. A weakness is that it does not grasp the significance of events
• Game Theory Model: Explores human interaction as the foundation of social policy:
  • Cooperative: Involves partnerships and resource pooling.
  • Non-Cooperative: Emphasizes privacy and mistrust.
  • Hybrid: Combines cooperation and competition.
• Risk and Resilience Model: Focuses on reducing risks and increasing protective factors. A weakness is a focus on short term outcomes
• Institutional Model: Asserts that public institutions create public policy. A weakness is that disjointed government agencies lead to inconsistent policies
• Systems Model: Posits that different parts coordinate within a larger whole. A weakness is it does not describe the process of interaction
• Systems/Dialectical Model: Explains the decision-making behind policy outcomes. A weakness is that it does not address the status quo

Policy-Making Process

• Events must be traumatic or hideous, create widespread concern, and attract a passionate advocacy group.
• Steps include initiation, implementation, proposing ideas, and evaluation.

Demographics of Children Today

• The overall number of children has increased and a more diverse population of children.
• The ratio of adults to children has decreased.

Home Environment and Child Well-Being

• Key factors include parenting quality, presence of both parents, immigration status, and language spoken.
• Single-parent households are at higher risk for poverty and instability.

Fragile Families

• These families are more susceptible to breaking up or living in poverty.

Common Mental Health Diagnoses

• Common diagnoses include ADHD, ODD, conduct disorder, depression, anxiety, alcohol/substance use, and Tourette's.
• Black boys may be overdiagnosed with ODD.
• Low-income children are diagnosed with depression at higher rates.
• White girls have higher rates of substance and alcohol use.

Non-Parental Childcare

• Quality of care is crucial, with no significant difference in attachment compared to parental care.

Preschool for All

• Black children can be two months behind white children, and Hispanic children can be three months behind.
• Low-income children can be three months behind middle-class children who are two months behind.
• Quality preschool care improves IQ scores in low-income children.
• There is a lack of public demand for more assistance and private preschools might get eliminated.

Systems/Dialectical Perspective on Social Policy and Children

• Social policies should encourage independence from long-term government dependence.
• Support women without creating a false sense of security in marriage.
• Prioritize early intervention in child health, while recognizing potential harm from adult-strength medications.

Difficult Topics

• Discussions on fetal welfare, poverty, and education can be uncomfortable, emotional/sensitive, and contentious (controversial).

Welfare of the Fetus Concerns

• Concerns include fetal alcohol syndrome, neglect, poor nutrition, illegal substances, fetal tissue use, abortion, and legal drugs.

Neurotransmitters in Prenatal Development

• Neurotransmitters are crucial for cell replication, differentiation, growth, and death.

Nicotine and Alcohol Exposure

• Nicotine exposure can cause cell loss and death, leading to impaired learning, ADHD, behavioral disorders, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
• Alcohol exposure during pregnancy relates to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), causing brain damage.
• FAS adolescents often have short stature, academic struggles, poor judgment, and social maladjustment as well as physical features like low nasal bridge, thin upper lip, and short nose
• It decreases cortical functioning; may also cause brain and spinal damage, hippocampus shrinkage, and slower neural migration.

Cocaine and Meth Exposure

• Cocaine entering the fetal bloodstream restricts blood flow and causes strokes and low birth weight.
• Meth exposure may cause premature birth, c-sections, higher blood pressure, placental abruptions, and growth restrictions.

Prescription Medication Exposure

• Affects the Apgar score (activity, pulse, grimace, appearance, respiration) of infants.

Mother's Rights vs. Child's Right to Be Born Healthy

• A pregnant woman has right to an abortion
• Prenatal experience is important for long-term health.
• The legal questions involve whether to criminalize the mother's behavior, consider her constitutional rights, and address reproductive rights.

Poverty Measurement

• It includes families falling below an income level based on the cost of food multiplied by three.

Measuring Poverty

• Income-based measurements by the government using the cost of food multiplied by three.
• Supplemental poverty measures that include what the government spends.
• Poverty level based on family expenditures.

Child Poverty Rates

• Child poverty rates have increased in the last decade, vary by race, and are higher in single-parent households.
• The U.S. has one of the highest child poverty rates.

Effects of Poverty on Children

• Increased family instability, violence, poor housing, lack of social support, and less parental supervision.
• Limits the body's ability to handle stress, which can shorten lifespan.
• Can lead to lower IQ and test scores due to environmental factors.
• Can cause behavioral effects and chronic stress along with disorganized attachment.
• Increased school absences, asthma, and lead exposure.

Welfare State and Free Market

• A welfare state provides assistance for poor families and has higher taxes and dependency.
• A free market determines prices based on supply and demand.

Minimum Wage Pros and Cons

• Raising the minimum wage would allow families to better participate in the economy without additional government help.
• Raising Minimum wage may hurt business owners and reduce the motivation to improve one's life.

Cliff Effects

• Providing families with a safety net is both important and could adversely affect the recipients

Systems/Dialectical Perspective on Social Policy and Poverty

• Lifting people out of poverty depends on economic growth and vice versa.
• Access to tools that allow participation is needed for people to fully participate in economic growth.

No Child Left Behind Policy

• Enacted in 2002
• Ensured accountability in the education system through standardized testing.
• It held teachers accountable for student outcomes and was believed to help close the achievement gap.

Education System Crisis

• Conservatives believe progressives make the decisions, while progressives believe conservatives block funding increases and initiate curricula fights.
• Half of teachers leave after 5 years.
• Closer parent/teacher involvement is needed.
• Most of the budget goes to administration.

Common Core Curriculum

• It was created in 2009.
• Addressed the need for consistent standards across state lines.
• There is disagreement about its effectiveness.
• It doesn't address needs on extreme ends and de-emphasizes creativity.

Robinson Approach

• Future of education system should focus on responding to each child's way of learning.
• Key elements include an agency-based approach, individual choice, pursuit of truth, parents as the main guide, and eliminating the hierarchical system.

Systems/Dialectical Perspective on Social Policy and Education

• Student test scores don't grasp complexity.
• Nonlinear interaction is a better fit.
• Emphasis should be placed on how students learn, stopping the blame game.
• Encouragement of more free play, outdoor activities, and unstructured time.
• A change needs to occur regarding our understanding of intelligence.