Policy, Process, and Social Change

Catalog description

Policy Processes and Social Change examines a variety of theoretical frameworks addressing the substance of publicpolicy and the processes of policy making. Special emphasis is given to the underlying assumptions and values that inform the policy frameworks. We focus particularly on what problems public policy addresses and what problems it does not; in what manner problems are addressed (e.g. punitively or supportively); and who wins and who loses in the policy process. We analyze in what manner and to what extent the U.S. democratic system–i.e. the State–is responding to the needs of its citizens and how more progressive change might be realized.