Historical Analysis of a Social Problem

ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW: Students will work to analyze a social problem and development of and/or changes in social policies that respond to the problem. The paper will address the impact of social movements, economic and demographic shifts, and systemic racism and the role of the social work profession in the response to the social problem.

Knowledge: the following important content in this course:

Impact that the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and other social movements since that time have had on current debates and controversies concerning social welfare in the United States

Factors and trends that led to changes in social welfare policy since the post WWII period up to the present.

Extent to which economic and demographic shifts and systemic racism created social and economic inequalities that led to the social movements of the 1960s through today.

Role of the social work profession in contributing and responding to changes in social welfare policy and social work practice during the mid to late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Tasks: This assignment consists of an 8 - 10-page paper (not including title page, bibliography, or any attachments).

 To complete this assignment, you should:

· Choose the social problem. Your analysis will focus on one of the social problems listed below. The entire paper should be structured around the topic you choose.

Housing Discrimination

Suppression of Voting Rights

Access to Quality Education

Discrimination in Labor and Employment

Access to Health Care

Juvenile Justice OR Criminal Justice and Mass Incarceration

Access to Public Welfare Benefits

Each paper should include at least 10 outside sources of information relevant to the different required sections. You should use the WSU library system to find scholarly, peer reviewed articles, and should also use government websites and well-established public interest organizations to find data and official information about the problem. Sites like Wikipedia and websites that are of questionable origin (or promote a particular ideological agenda) are not acceptable sources to use.

ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS:

The Introduction should be a one paragraph summary of what the paper is about.

Within the Main Body of the presentation, organize the content based on the instructions below:

Describe the social problem and social welfare policy that you are researching in terms of how a particular population is affected by it (e.g., older people, women, children, people of color, LGBTQ, individuals with mental illness, etc.)

Include demographic characteristics of the population you are highlighting and discuss how racism, discrimination or other prejudices affect the scope and extent of the problem as it is experienced by that population group.

Address how the social movements of the latter half of the 20th century affected the definition of the social problem, the public’s view of the problem, and changes in policy intended to address