U.S. Social Policy

Readings

All readings assigned in the course are required. A detailed list of readings by session is available below.

Discussion questions accompany each set of readings. A complete list of all discussion questions is also available (PDF).

Required Textbooks

Arnold, R. Douglas. The Logic of Congressional Action. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780300048346.

Baumgartner, Frank R., and Bryan D. Jones. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780226039381.

Campbell, Andrea Louise. How Policies Make Citizens: Senior Citizen Activism and the American Welfare State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780691091891.

Readings by Session

LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS	Discussion Questions
1	Introduction
Part I: American Exceptionalism and a Case: Why No National Health Insurance in the United States?
2-3	U.S. Health Policy	Skocpol, Theda. Boomerang: Health Care Reform and the Turn Against Government. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1997, Introduction, pp. 1-19. ISBN: 9780393315721. Blendon, Robert J., and John M. Benson. “Americans’ Views on Health Policy: A Fifty-Year Historical Perspective.” Health Affairs 20, no. 2 (March-April 2001): 33-46. Steinmo, Sven, and Jon Watts. “It’s the Institutions Stupid! Why Comprehensive National Health Insurance Fails in America.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 20 (Summer 1995): 329-72.	(PDF)
Part II: Preferences, Participation, and Representation
4	Who Participates?	Schlozman, Kay Lehman, Henry E. Brady, and Sidney Verba. “The Big Tilt: Participatory Inequality in America.” The American Prospect 8, no. 32 (May-June 1997): 74-80. Rosenstone, Steven, and John Mark Hansen. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York, NY: MacMillan, 1993, chapter 4, pp. 71-127. ISBN: 9780024036605.	(PDF)
5	Who Gets Represented? The Case of Social Security	Campbell, Andrea Louise. How Policies Make Citizens: Senior Citizen Activism and the American Welfare State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003, chapters 1-5, pp. 1-114. ISBN: 9780691091891.	(PDF)
6	Who Gets Represented? The Case of Tax Cuts and Other Policies	Gilens, Martin. “Public Opinion and Democratic Responsiveness: Who Gets What They Want from Government?” Paper presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL, September 2-5, 2004. Hacker, Jacob, and Paul Pierson. “Abandoning the Middle: The Bush Tax Cuts and the Limits of Democratic Control.” Perspectives on Politics 3 (March 2005): 33-53.	(PDF)
7	Interest Groups I	Olson, Mancur. “The Logic of Collective Action.” In Rational Man and Irrational Society: An Introduction and Sourcebook. Edited by Brian Barry and Russell Hardin. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1982, pp. 43-50. ISBN: 9780803918504. Skocpol, Theda. “Associations without Members.” The American Prospect (July-August 1999): 66-73. Berry, Jeffrey M. “Subgovernments, Issue Networks, and Political Conflict.” In Remaking American Politics. Edited by Richard A. Harris and Sidney Milkis. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989, pp. 239-60. ISBN: 9780813304953.	(PDF)
8	Interest Groups II: Business vs. Labor	Judis, John B. “Abandoned Surgery: Business and the Failure of Health Care Reform.” The American Prospect 6, no. 21 (March 21, 1995): 65-73. Levi, Margaret. “Organizing Power: The Prospects for an American Labor Movement.” Perspectives on Politics 1 (March 2003): 45-68.	(PDF)
9-10	Public Opinion and Preference Formation: The Case of Universal vs. Targeted Programs	Gilens, Martin. “Political Ignorance and Collective Policy Preferences.” American Political Science Review 91 (2001): 379-96. Page, Benjamin I., and Robert Y. Shapiro. The Rational Public: Fifty Years of Trends in Americans’ Policy Preferences. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1992, chapter 10, pp. 383-98. ISBN: 9780226644776. Cook, Fay Lomax, and Edith J. Barrett. Support for the American Welfare State: The Views of Congress and the Public. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1992, chapter 3, pp. 58-93, and portion of chapter 4, pp. 94-106. ISBN: 9780231076180. Gilens, Martin. Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1999, chapters 3 and 5, pp. 60-79 and 102-131. ISBN: 9780226293646.	(PDF)
Part III: The Policy-Making Process
11	Problem Definition and Agenda Setting I: The Case of Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage	Kingdon, John W. Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1997, chapter 9, pp. 196-208. ISBN: 9780673523891. Campbell, Andrea Louise, and Kimberly Morgan. “The Shifting Line between Public and Private: The Politics of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act and Prescription Drug Reform.” Paper presented at the Social Science History Association Annual Meeting. Portland, OR, November 3-6, 2005.	(PDF)
12	Problem Definition and Agenda Setting II	Baumgartner, Frank R., and Bryan D. Jones. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 1993, chapters 2, 5, and 6, pp. 6-9. ISBN: 9780226039381.	(PDF)
13	Policy-Relevant Institutions: Congress I	Arnold, R. Douglas. The Logic of Congressional Action. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990, chapters 1-5, pp. 3-115. ISBN: 9780300048346.	(PDF)
14	Policy-Relevant Institutions: Congress II; The Case of the Hidden Welfare State	Weaver, R. Kent. “The Politics of Blame.” Brookings Review 5 (Spring 1987): 43-47. Wilson, William Julius. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1990, chapters 1 and 9, pp. 9-12, 14-16, 17-39, and 175-92. ISBN: 9780226901312.	(PDF)
15	Policy-Relevant Institutions: The Courts; The Case of Welfare Rights	Melnick, R. Shep. Between the Lines: Interpreting Welfare Rights. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1994, chapters 1-3, pp. 3-61. ISBN: 9780815756644.	(PDF)
Part IV: Policy in Practice
16	Implementation: The Case of Rehabilitation in Prison	Lin, Ann Chih. Reform in the Making: The Implementation of Social Policy in Prison. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000, chapters 3 and 4. ISBN: 9780691009841.	(PDF)
17	Policy Design	Schneider, Anne, and Helen Ingram. “Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy.” American Political Science Review 87 (1993): 334-47. Skocpol, Theda. “Targeting within Universalism: Politically Viable Policies to Combat Poverty in the United States.” In The Urban Underclass. Edited by Christopher Jencks and Paul E. Peterson. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1991, pp. 411-36. ISBN: 9780815746065. Peterson, Paul E. “Who Should Do What? Divided Responsibility in the Federal System.” Brookings Review (Spring 1995): 6-11.	(PDF)
18	The Consequences of Policy Design: The Cases of Welfare and the G.I. Bill	Soss, Joe. “Lessons of Welfare: Policy Design, Political Learning, and Political Action.” American Political Science Review 93 (June 1999): 363-380. Mettler, Suzanne. “Bringing the State Back In to Civic Engagement: Effects of the G.I. Bill for World War II Veterans.” American Political Science Review 96 (June 2002): 351-65.	(PDF)
19	Public-Private Relations	Dobbin, Frank. “Is America Becoming More Exceptional? How Public Policy Corporatized Social Citizenship.” In Restructuring the Welfare State: Political Institutions and Policy Change. Edited by Bo Rothstein and Sven Steinmo. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2002, pp. 51-77. ISBN: 9780312296285. Starr, Paul. “End of the Private New Deal.” The American Prospect 17, no. 7 (June 20, 2005): 3. Lowenstein, Roger. “The End of Pensions?” New York Times Magazine (October 30, 2005).	(PDF)
20	The Working Years: Unemployment, Disability Insurance, and the EITC	Graetz, Michael J., and Jerry L. Mashaw. True Security. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999, chapter 4, pp. 69-91. ISBN: 9780300081503. McIntyre, Robert S. “A Pay Day Bonus.” The American Prospect (September 1, 2004). Bhargava, Deepak. “How Much is Enough.” The American Prospect (September 1, 2004).	(PDF)
21	Gender in U.S. Social Policy: The Case of Family and Medical Leave	Bernstein, Anya. The Moderation Dilemma: Legislative Coalitions and the Politics of Family and Medical Leave. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001, chapter 2, pp. 28-46. ISBN: 9780822941576. Meyers, Marcia K., and Janet C. Gornick. “The European Model.” The American Prospect (November 2, 2004). Mettler, Suzanne. Dividing Citizens: Gender and Federalism in New Deal Public Policy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998, chapter 9, pp. 211-31. ISBN: 9780801433290.	(PDF)
22	Education Policy: Vouchers	Chubb, John E., and Terry M. Moe. “Better Schools through New Institutions: Giving Americans Choice.” Chapter 6 in Schools, Vouchers, and the American Public. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2002, pp. 185-229. ISBN: 9780815758075. Howell, William G., and Paul E. Peterson. “The Urban Test Score Gap.” Chapter 6 in The Education Gap: Vouchers and Urban Schools. Revised ed. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2006, pp. 140-67. ISBN: 9780815736851.	(PDF)
23	Education Policy: Federal College Loans	The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. “Losing Ground: A National Status Report on the Affordability of American Higher Education.” San Jose, CA: The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2002. Hearn, James C. “The Growing Loan Orientation in Federal Financial Aid Policy: A Historical Perspective.” In Foundations of American Higher Education. 2nd ed. Edited by James L. Bess and David S. Webster. Boston, MA: Simon & Schuster, 1999. ISBN: 9780536018533.	(PDF)
24-25	Course Conclusion: The Future of American Social Policy	Mettler, Suzanne. “‘A Sense of the State:’ Tracking the Role of the American Federal Government in Citizens’ Lives over Time.” Paper presented at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual National Conference. Chicago, IL, April 3-6, 2003. Hacker, Jacob. “False Positive.” The New Republic (August 16, 2004). Hacker, Jacob S. The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002, chapter 7, pp. 313-35. ISBN: 9780521812887.	(PDF)