Social Research and Progressive Government

Cohen, Míriam Alfie

doi:10.4324/9780429499470-4

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Growing Progressive Era concerns with the structure of families and the acute impact of poverty upon children and their health (Almgren et al 2000), and intensive lobbying from women's organizations and, in particular, from social workers to address these concerns led to the decision by the US Congress to create the office (Branco 2019). The establishment of the Children's Bureau offered social workers, led by Julia Lathrop and Grace Abbott, and supported by Settlement Movement figures such as Jane Addams, a unique opportunity to initiate and impact policies pertaining to maternal and children's health, child labor, and cash assistance to families with children (Cohen 2017;Lindenmeyer 1997).…”

Section: Temporal Factors and Policy Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Workers and the Policy Process: When Does Opportunity Knock?

Gal

Weiss‐Gal

2020

J of Pol Practice & Research

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Social workers' policy engagement has been the subject of growing interest in the social work discourse in recent years. In order to contribute to theoretical and empirical knowledge for social workers and social work organizations seeking to undertake their policy role, this article will seek to better understand one of the types of factors that determines this engagement, particularly on the macro level. The focus of much of the discussion on the factors associated with social workers' policy engagement has been on social workers' motivation to engage in policy practice and the degree to which their workplaces facilitate this type of activity. However, the discourse tends to ignore the impact of the policy environment on this. Drawing on the concept of "opportunity structures" and insights from the neo-institutionalist literature, this article suggests that social workers' access to the policy-making process is crucial if we seek to better understand their policy practice. On the basis of examples from different countries and historical periods, and a more in-depth examination of Israeli case studies, we underscore the ways in which opportunity structures deriving from institutional or temporal factors lead to divergences in the form and level that policy engagement by social workers takes in different contexts.

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Section: Temporal Factors and Policy Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%